The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor John Mushayavanhu has reiterated that the Zimbabwe dollar remains legal tender for all domestic transactions until April 30, when the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) notes and coins will come into circulation.
This comes after some traders, public transport operators and members of the public, stopped accepting the Zimbabwe dollar notes in response to the introduction of the “structured currency”.
During a 2024 Monetary Policy Statement breakfast meeting in Harare on Tuesday, 09 April, Mushayavanhu said that Zim dollar notes remain legal tender, and banks can continue to dispense them to their customers. He said:
Between now and April 30, 2024, the bond notes are still legal tender; banks can pay them out to customers, and people should be able to use those to transact and for change. It is only after the 30th that we will be introducing the new notes and coins.
On Saturday, a day after he announced the launch of ZiG, Mushayavanhu said that the central bank will conduct an extensive educational and awareness campaign on the new currency’s structure and security features before the notes and coins are released on April 30.
The central bank chief on Tuesday also sought to assure the public that ZiG was going to be a stable currency. He said the new currency had already started appreciating after gaining in Monday and Tuesday trading sessions on the interbank market. He said:
If you are a retailer and you put a 10 per cent margin, you are most likely to be outside the market. You cannot put 10 per cent on top of a stable exchange rate, so you are going to moderate yourselves.
If you do not apply it and take the interbank exchange rate, you are not flouting the law, but if you apply more than 10 percent, you will be above the official exchange rate of 13,50 ZiG and (You will be around) probably 14 ZiG, hence you will price yourself out of business and will not be able to sell your products.
Mushayavanhu said Statutory Instrument 185 of 2020 which authorises dealers and the market to price goods and services based on the prevailing interbank market rate plus a margin of up to 10 percent should be withdrawn.
