President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said the Government worked on the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency for at least two years before its introduction.
ZiG was launched by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s new Governor John Mushayavanhu during his inaugural Monetary Policy Statement on April 5, 2024.
Speaking to Russian media outlets in St Petersburg, Russia, Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe has enough gold in its reserves to back the ZiG. He said (via The Sunday Mail):
The focus is on our currency, gold-backed, and we have worked for two years to have it. We have more than enough reserves to back the currency.
All along, we have been using other countries’ currencies and now we introduced a currency backed by gold, but we still have other currencies in circulation, and we are happy we have solid gold and solid currency backed by gold.
Before I introduced ZiG, we had researched for two years, and we realised we wanted a solid, structured gold reserve-backed currency.
We have more gold; I toured the reserves and saw the gold myself. Our economy is now based on solid fundamentals of the economy.
ZiG has been the official currency of Zimbabwe since April 8, 2024. It is backed by foreign currencies, gold, and other precious metals.
Mnangagwa was in Russia for the 27th St Petersburg International Economic Forum at the invitation of the country’s leader, President Vladimir Putin.
