Zimbabwe government says bond notes to be gradually removed from circulation

Source: Xinhua| 2019-11-04 23:56:25|Editor: yan
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HARARE, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Bond notes and coins will continue to be used as legal tender in Zimbabwe for a limited period alongside new notes and coins that will be put into circulation this month, a senior government official said Monday.

Last week, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) announced that it will introduce new bank notes in the middle of this month to address cash shortages in the economy.

The Zimbabwe government first introduced bond coins in 2014, followed by bond notes in 2016 to address cash challenges but the surrogate notes and coins have not been able to stem the cash challenges.

State news agency New Ziana reported that permanent secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development George Guvamatanga refuted claims that the bond notes will be immediately decommissioned once the new notes are introduced.

"Initially the bond notes will work alongside the new notes and coins and they will have the same value.

"But at some point we will cut off and only remain with the new notes and coins," he said.

Guvamatanga said the main motivation behind the introduction of the new notes was to alleviate the current cash shortages.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has said the new money, made up of 2 dollar note, 5 dollar note and 2 dollar coin amounting to 1 billion dollars will be gradually injected into the market to avoid fueling inflation.

Zimbabwe has endured biting cash shortages for years now, leading to the emergence of a thriving parallel market where cash is sold at premiums as high as 50 percent in exchange for electronic money.

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