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Zimbabwe banks ordered to ring-fence foreign currency accounts

 
Zimbabwe bond note
  • Central Banking Newsdesk
  • 03 Oct 2018
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has ordered banks to ring-fence nostro foreign currency accounts in what appears to be a step towards de-dollarising the country.

“This is essential in order to preserve value for money for the banking public and investors during the transition to a more market-based foreign currency allocation system,” the central bank said in its most recent monetary policy statement.

Such a system would be implemented once “the economic fundamentals are appropriate to do so”, it

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Zim dollar expected to make a comeback, says VP Chiwenga

time_icon_grey.png 15:30 30/06/2018
 
 
 

Vice President Constantino Chiwenga says the Zimbabwe dollar will be reintroduced at an "appropriate time", after the government has fixed the country's ailing economy.

According to the state-owned Heraldnewspaper, Chiwenga told Zanu-PF supporters at a rally in Shurugwi this week that the government needed to sort out the country's economy by "reopening industries" first.

The Zimbabwean dollar collapsed between 2008 and 2009 due to hyperinflation, thus, forcing the country to adopt a basket of foreign currencies that included the South African rand, the United States dollar, the British pound and the Euro. 

Chiwenga's remarks came a few days after President Emmerson Mnangagwa made similar remarks.

 

Mnangagwa reportedly "hinted on plans to reintroduce" the dreaded Zimbabwean dollar in order to address the current issue of cash shortages in the southern African country.

According to NewsDay Mnangagwa said that the country was in need of its own currency.

Diamond and gold reserves

This was not the first time that Mnangagwa made such comments.

In July 2017, Mnangagwa, then vice president, was quoted by the Heraldnewspaper as saying that government was "building diamond and gold reserves to back the local currency upon its re-introduction in future".

Mnangagwa, however, refused at the time to disclose when the local currency would be re-introduced, but said it would only come back when mineral reserves reached desired levels.

"We are building reserves of gold and diamonds which if they reach a certain level I will not tell you here, it will then allow us to introduce our own currency that will be backed by those minerals. I am not at liberty to disclose to you the level that we want those minerals to reach before they can back our own currency," Mnangagwa was quoted as saying.

For two years now Zimbabwe's worsening cash shortages have caused misery for locals trying to withdraw their money from banks.

Cash has remained on high demand, especially for things like bus fares

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Zim leader hints on plan to bring back dreaded Zim dollar – report

time_icon_grey.png 06:02 27/06/2018
 
 
 

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has reportedly "hinted on plans to reintroduce" the dreaded Zimbabwean dollar in order to address the current issue of cash shortages in the southern African country.

According to NewsDay, prior to an alleged assassination attempt on Saturday, the president told his supporters that the country was in need of its own currency.

The Zimbabwean dollar collapsed between 2008 and 2009 due to hyperinflation, thus, forcing the country to adopt a basket of foreign currencies that included the South African rand, the United States dollar, the British pound and the Euro. 

This was not the first time that Mnangagwa hinted on the return of the Zimbabwe dollar. 

 
 

In July 2017, Mnangagwa, then vice president, was quoted by the state-owned Herald  newspaper as saying that government was "building diamond and gold reserves to back the local currency upon its re-introduction in future

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Zimbabwe Promises New Currency as Dollar Shortage Bites

January 12, 2019 10:30 PM
A motorcyclist with two jerry cans attached to his motorbike counts his bond notes at a fuel station, Jan. 11, 2019, in Harare.
A motorcyclist with two jerry cans attached to his motorbike counts his bond notes at a fuel station, Jan. 11, 2019, in Harare.
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HARARE, ZIMBABWE — 

Zimbabwe will introduce a new currency in the next 12 months, the finance minister said, as a shortage of U.S. dollars has plunged the financial system into disarray and forced businesses to close.

In the past two months, the southern African nation has suffered acute shortages of imported goods, including fuel whose price was increased by 150 percent Saturday.

Zimbabwe abandoned its own currency in 2009 after it was wrecked by hyperinflation and adopted the greenback and other currencies, such as sterling and the South African rand.

But there is not enough hard currency in the country to back up the $10 billion of electronic funds trapped in local bank accounts, prompting demands from businesses and civil servants for cash that can be deposited and used to make payments.

Minister of Finance Mthuli Ncube presents his budget statement in the Parliament of Zimbabwe, Nov. 22, 2018, in Harare.
Minister of Finance Mthuli Ncube presents his budget statement in the Parliament of Zimbabwe, Nov. 22, 2018, in Harare.

Two weeks of reserves

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube told a townhall meeting Friday a new local currency would be introduced in less than 12 months.

“On the issue of raising enough foreign currency to introduce the new currency, we are on our way already, give us months, not years,” he said.

Zimbabwe’s foreign reserves now provide less than two weeks cover for imports, central bank data show. The government has previously said it would only consider launching a new currency if it had at least six months of reserves.

Bad memories of Zimbabwean dollar

Locals are haunted by memories of the Zimbabwean dollar, which became worthless as inflation spiraled to reach 500 billion percent in 2008, the highest rate in the world for a country not at war, wiping out pensions and savings.

A surrogate bond note currency introduced in 2016 to stem dollar shortages has also collapsed in value.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is under pressure to revive the economy but dollar shortages are undermining efforts to win back foreign investors sidelined under his predecessor Robert Mugabe.

Mnangagwa told reporters Saturday that the price of petrol had increased to $3.31 per liter from $1.32 since midnight but there would be no increase for foreign embassies and tourists paying in cash U.S. dollars.

Locals can pay via local debit cards, mobile phone payments and a surrogate bond note currency.

Public transport drivers complain about having to pay for fuel in U.S. dollars at a fuel station, Jan. 11, 2019, in Harare. Motorists are spending nights waiting in long queues for petrol and diesel as the country is experiencing crippling fuel shortages.
Public transport drivers complain about having to pay for fuel in U.S. dollars at a fuel station, Jan. 11, 2019, in Harare. Motorists are spending nights waiting in long queues for petrol and diesel as the country is experiencing crippling fuel shortages.

With less than $400 million in actual cash in Zimbabwe, according to central bank figures, fuel shortages have worsened and companies are struggling to import raw materials and equipment, forcing them to buy greenback notes on the black market at a premium of up to 370 percent.

The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries has warned some of its members could stop operating at the end of the month because of the dollar crunch.

Cooking oil and soap maker Olivine Industries said Saturday it had suspended production and put workers on indefinite leave because it owed foreign suppliers $11 million.

A local associate of global brewing giant Anheuser-Busch Inbev said this week it would invest more than $120 million of dividends and fees trapped in Zimbabwe into the central bank’s savings bonds.

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https://www.google.com/amp/s/businesstech.co.za/news/banking/293218/zimbabwe-to-get-a-new-currency/amp/...

Zimbabwe to get a new currency

Staff Writer 3 weeks ago
Dollar-1024x683.jpg
     

Zimbabwe is set to introduce a new currency in the next 12 months the country’s finance minister said, as a shortage of US dollars has sent the country’s financial system into chaos, with businesses forced to close.

Reuters reported that the country has  endured an acute shortage of imported goods over the past few months, including fuel prices – up by 150% on Saturday.

Zimbabwe has adopted currencies from other countries since moving away from the local dollar in 2009, due to hyperinflation. This has included the rand, the US dollar and the pound.

Reuters reported that the Southern African country doesn’t have enough hard currency to back up the $10 billion of electronic funds trapped in local bank accounts.

“On the issue of raising enough foreign currency to introduce the new currency, we are on our way already, give us months, not years,” finance minister Mthuli Ncube said on Friday.

Zimbabwe’s foreign reserves now provide less than two weeks cover for imports, central bank data showed.

Labor unrest is mounting with fuel, food, medicines and foreign exchange all in short supply, Bloomberg reported.

Zimbabwean state employees threatened to join a strike by doctors and teachers unless the government addresses the impact of inflation on their salaries.

Prices in Zimbabwe are rising at the fastest pace since a hyperinflationary spiral in 2008, when the rate hit 500 billion percent, amid a scarcity of foreign currency that’s caused a shortage of food and fuel. Teachers this week joined a nationwide strike begun by doctors last month over inadequate pay.

 

Inflation.png

 


 

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https://mailandtelegraph.com/2019/01/23/zim-new-currency-out-in-a-month/.....

Zim new currency out in a month

 January 23, 2019
minister-of-finance-zim-696x391.jpg Zimbabwe's Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube hinted on the introduction of new currency

Zimbabwe should brace itself for a new currency within the next month, the Mail and Telegraph has learnt.

Sources close to the developments say the currency was already printed in March last year and is being kept safely at the vaults by the  Central Bank.

The sources said the currency could not be introduced due to a number of political factors and confidence boost but the currency is likely to be launched within the next month.

They said the currency will be backed by gold and that government has been purchasing the gold through Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR).

Gold deliveries to FPR for 2018 hit a record 33, 2 tonnes up from 24, 8 tonnes the previous year as Government led stakeholder efforts to upscale production begin to bear fruit.

Finance minister Mthuli Ncube also recently  hinted that government would introduce own currency.

Ncube made the revelations during his address at the Global Shapers Community meeting held at the Celebration Center two weeks ago.

We should be close on currency reforms. It will happen by stealth because we can’t. Currency reforms started October 2018 but we didn’t have fiscal discipline in place. We won’t capitulate to the USD but have currency reforms.

We are less than 12 months away from currency reforms,” he said.

In an interview with Bloomberg in Davos, Switzerland on Monday, Ncube also hinted that he was implementing a cocktail of measures that include enforcing fiscal discipline, cutting runaway Government expenditure as well as increasing compliance on the country’s revenue collection front in order to create an enabling environment for the reintroduction of the local currency.

“A lot needs to be done before the introduction of the Zimbabwean currency, which first of all is fiscal discipline, making sure we bring the budget deficit into single digits and that runaway Government expenditure is curtailed.” he said.

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https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2019-02-20/zimbabwe-abandons-1-1-peg-between-quasi-currency-and-the-dollar....

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Zimbabwe Devalues Its Quasi-Currency in FX Regime Overhaul

By 
,  , and 
February 20, 2019, 8:44 AM ESTUpdated on February 20, 2019, 1:54 PM EST
  • So-called bond notes to be denominated as electronic currency
  • Central bank introduces interbank foreign-exchange market

Zimbabwe’s government dropped its insistence that a quasi-currency known as bond notes are at par with the dollar as it overhauled foreign-exchange trading and effectively devalued the securities.

The measures are a step toward trying to create a new currency and stabilize Zimbabwe’s economy, which has been plunged into crisis as a shortage of foreign currency stoked the fastest increase in consumer prices in more than a decade and caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Zimbabwe abandoned its own currency in 2009 after inflation spiraled to 500 billion percent, allowing the use of the U.S. dollar and other units as legal tender. Bond notes were introduced in 2016. 

The central bank will immediately establish an interbank foreign-exchange market in which the bond notes will be denominated as electronic money known as RTGS dollars, Governor John Mangudya said at a briefing Wednesday in the capital, Harare. While the government has previously insisted that bond notes and RTGS dollars are worth the same as U.S. dollars, the units currently trade at between 3.66 and 3.8 to the dollar respectively on the black market.

Denominating bond notes as RTGS dollars will “establish an exchange rate between the current monetary balances and foreign currency,” Mangudya said. “The new framework is set to bring certainty, predictability and functionality to the economy’s foreign-exchange market.”

‘Effective Devaluation’

The announcement amounted to an effective devaluation, Harare-based economist John Robertson said. 

He didn’t mention it by name, but they have devalued it,” he said. “We should now see a convergence of a stable rate going forward. Buyers and sellers will now need to meet and agree on a rate.”

Bond notes are worth much less than real dollars in Zimbabwe

Mangudya said that under the new system introduced on Wednesday:

  • RTGS dollars would be used by all entities including the government to price goods and services
  • The use of RTGS dollars would eliminate the existence of a multi-pricing system; prices should either remain at their current levels or decline “in sympathy with the stability in the exchange rate”
  • The central bank has arranged “sufficient lines of credit” to enable it to maintain foreign currency to underpin the exchange rate
  • Foreign currency from the interbank market will be used for foreign-payment invoices

New Currency
 

“It is a small but key step that will support a long road of reforms needed to bring transparency and clarity to the country’s monetary system,” said Chiedza Madzima, a senior analyst at Fitch Solutions in Johannesburg. 

 

The refusal by foreign traders to accept bond notes as legal tender resulted in payment problems for companies such as gold miners and grain millers and exacerbated shortages of raw materials. Shops also charged customers different prices depending on which unit they used to pay, offering discounts as high as 70 percent to those who used real U.S. dollars.

The central bank measures are a step toward Zimbabwe reintroducing its own currency, Secretary for Information Nick Mangwana said by phone. Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has said he wants a new currency introduced within a year.

“The move is largely constructive as the government now officially recognizes that U.S. dollars and RTGS$ are not at parity,” Neville Mandimika, an analyst in Johannesburg at FirstRand Ltd.’s Rand Merchant Bank, said in response to emailed questions. “The introduction of a Zim dollar will be just in name, but the RTGS$ is essentially the Zim dollar.” 

Ncube has given few details on plans for the new currency, beyond that the central bank was building reserves, which currently cover barely two weeks of imports. He’s also trying to restructure billions of dollars of defaulted multilateral debts so that Zimbabwe can obtain new international loans.

While a new currency is possible, it’s likely to behave the same way bond notes and RTGS dollars did, said Steve H. Hanke, a professor of applied economics and expert on hyperinflation at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Both units depreciated against the dollar after their introduction.

“It would sink like a stone,” he said. “They have created such a mess with the bonds and RTGS dollars. What they should do is get this cancer out of the system.” 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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New currency for Zimbabwe as foreign currency crisis deepens

in News / Africa by RAY NDLOVU
    
announced that the country had ditched the 1:1 ratio between Zimbabwe bond notes and US dollars, a rate maintained by the central bank for nearly three years.
announced that the country had ditched the 1:1 ratio between Zimbabwe bond notes and US dollars, a rate maintained by the central bank for nearly three years. 
Image: Jekesai NJIKIZANA / AFP

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya has introduced a new local currency - “RTGS dollars” - as the country's severe foreign currency crisis persists.

The announcement was made on Wednesday. Mangudya also announced that the country had ditched the 1:1 ratio between Zimbabwe bond notes and US dollars, a rate maintained by the central bank for nearly three years.

Mangudya, who presented the monetary statement after several weeks of delay, also opened up an interbank system where the RTGS dollars would be traded for foreign currency by local banks on “a willing buyer and willing seller basis".

“We say that the RTGS dollars are composed of RTGS balances, bond note and bond coins and are in the basket of currencies which Zimbabweans are using,” Mangudya told the media. 

RTGS stands for "real-time gross settlement" and is the electronic balance in local bank accounts. Last year, the bank ordered the separation of local bank accounts from the nostro accounts that have US dollars.

The central bank chief was non-committal on the exact exchange rate to be used between the US dollars and the RTGS dollars.

Instead, he indicated that the market “would determine” the relative value of the two currencies.

Mangudya said depositors could use their RTGS dollars to buy foreign currency from the banks, a move presumably aimed at choking the lifeblood of the black market, which had become the source of buying the scarce US dollars. It is also meant to avail hard currency to forex-starved companies that have been struggling to import raw materials.

About 100 companies have closed in the 15 months that President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been in office. Many of these were too starved of forex to continue operating, according to a tally from the master of the high court in Harare seen by Sunday Times. 

Since November 2016, the rate between the US dollar and the bond note was 1:1, but that value was eroded on the black market by more than four times. Ahead of the monetary policy statement on Tuesday, the US dollar and bond note were trading at 1:4 on the black market.

Economists expected “short-term instability”, which they said was inevitable as a result of the market trying to find a rate.

Ashok Chakravati, an economist in Harare, said the monetary policy was a “courageous move” by the central bank. “It’s a request that has been in the works for many months by companies. It is a sign that this is a listening government and also a listening central bank,” he said.

Ahead of the monetary policy statement there was speculation that a new currency would be introduced.

Neville Mandimika from Rand Merchant Bank said the introduction of a local currency was not a bad thing and in fact was needed.

“The critical issue here is on how it's introduced. There are various steps that must be followed to ensure that the currency will be accepted as a store of value. Of these, the most important is ensuring that the economy has adequate forex reserves, which will act as a shock absorber. At this stage, the reserves simply aren’t there to justify its reintroduction,” said Mandimika in an e-mail.

Zimbabwe's major business associations have been pressing the government either for a local currency to be introduced or for the SA rand to be adopted as a unit of trade.

Some of the other highlights of the monetary policy statement include:

  • effective 25 February, depositors will be able to move US dollars locally between banks under the interbank system;
  • essential imports such as fuel and electricity will continue to have forex allocated by the Forex Allocation Committee;
  • gold producers will keep 55% of their earnings in foreign currency;
  • tobacco and cotton growers will receive 30% of their earnings from crop sales in foreign currency. Tobacco merchants will have 80% of their earnings in foreign currency;
  • All forex holdings will be liquidated within 30 days at the market rate for the day; and
  • a legal instrument will be gazetted that allows for the use of RTGS dollars and all entities, including government and individuals, will recognise the new currency. 
 
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ww.iol.co.za/news/africa/imf-hails-zimbabwe-currency-reforms-as-step-in-the-right-direction-19743117.....

IMF hails Zimbabwe currency reforms as step in the right direction

AFRICA / 8 MARCH 2019, 3:59PM / ANA REPORTER

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Zimbabwe needs an effective overall monetary policy framework if its currency reforms move is to succeed, the IMF has said. Picture: Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo

Harare ‑ Zimbabwe needs an effective overall monetary policy framework if its currency reforms move is to succeed, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.

Addressing the media Thursday in Washington DC, the United States, Gerry Rice, from the IMF communications department, said the Zimbabwe’s monetary policy framework should be supported by market-determined interest and exchanges rates, together with prudent fiscal policies.

 

“And our initial evaluation of (the monetary policy) which has been announced by the Zimbabwean authorities recently is that it’s a step in the right direction to address distortions that have significantly impaired those macroeconomic outcomes...,” he said.

Asked what Zimbabwean finance and economic development minister Mthuli Ncube had discussed with IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, Rice said Ncube briefed Lagarde on economic developments and reforms in the investment-hungry country.

Rice said at present, the IMF did not have a financing programme with Zimbabwe, though they would continue to have discussions with the authorities to assist them in implementing the economic reforms contained in their transitional stabilisation programme.

“(The transitional stabilisation programme) is a wide ranging stabilisation and reform programme aimed at addressing what is clearly a deep macroeconomic imbalance challenge, as well as a broader set of social and economic challenges. So the...discussions are certainly continuing,” he said.

Rice said given the absence of a financing programme, future plans would depend on clearance of arrears to other international financial institutions and financing assurances from bilateral predators, agreement on policies and many such arrangements.

African News Agency (ANA)

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Success of Zimbabwe's currency reform needs sound fiscal measures – IMF

INTERNATIONAL / 11 MARCH 2019, 10:00AM / TAWANDA KAROMBO

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INTERNATIONAL – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is supportive of Zimbabwe's economic policy reforms, but says the success of recently instituted currency reforms will depend on wholesale implementation of effective monetary and fiscal measures as investors and other funders weigh their options.

Zimbabwe is struggling to prop up its economy, weighed down by years of decline blamed on poor economic policies and political instability. Inflation has ratcheted up to more than 50 percent and foreign currency shortages are resulting in shortages of key commodities such as fuel and imported raw materials for productive sectors.

 

To offset the economic meltdown, the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa has introduced new currency deregulation reforms in addition to austerity measures such as dropping some subsidies aimed at cutting expenditure and at curbing pricing distortions.

“Its success, of course, the currency reforms’ success, will depend on the implementation of an effective overall monetary policy framework supported by market-determined interest and exchange rates, together with prudent fiscal policies. So it’s the major set of challenges facing Zimbabwe,” Gary Rice, a spokesperson for the IMF said on Friday.

The economic challenges that Zimbabwe is facing have frustrated investors, with funders pulling out. Zimbabwean companies such as Simbisa Brands have stayed plans to list in London until certainty is restored to the economy.

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New York . Google Zim notes and you should find a multitude selling it . Or go to Ebay. They really have everything . RTGS is the new electronic currency. But there should be a lower paper note coming ..soon.. Talk about value being lowered also. They have repeatedly said they want to back their new ZIMBABWE DOLLAR with Gold and Diamonds.  Could that be March 29th when the BIS initiates further Basel 3 plans ??? Possibly So .... The trillion notes are now defunct . But they use terms as in "RESURECT THE ZIM DOLLAR "... Those old notes may still have a snowball's chance next to a live Volcano....? who knows ?

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-13/zimbabwe-eases-grip-on-new-currency-in-bid-to-end-dollar-squeeze......

Zimbabwe Eases Grip on New Currency in Bid to End Dollar Squeeze

By 
March 13, 2019, 8:13 AM CDT
  • Gap with informal market narrows thanks to depreciation
  • Convergence of two rates key to revival of confidence
Zimbabwe's central bank is gradually weakening its new currency
 
For investors who doubted Zimbabwe would let market forces determine the price of its new currency, there’s some evidence it’s doing just that.
 
 

The southern African nation’s central bank has allowed the currency, known as RTGS, to slide to 2.6481 per dollar this week, taking its depreciation since trading started on Feb. 22 to 5.6 percent. That marks a change from the previous fortnight, when it was stuck at almost exactly 2.5.

 
 
Zimbabwe's central bank is gradually weakening its new currency

There’s still a wide gap with the black-market rate of 3.55, according to marketwatch.co.zw, a website run by financial analysts in Harare, the capital. But it’s closing thanks to the latest bout of depreciation.

 
 
 
 

Investors won’t be satisfied the country’s dire shortage of foreign exchange -- which has destroyed the economy and led to shortages of bread and fuel -- is over until the two rates converge.

 
 
RTGS, which stands for real-time gross settlement, was the result of the central bank’s decision years ago to print an electronic version of real dollars to fund rampant government spending. Hyperinflation forced the nation to abandon its original currency in 2009.

For long, the government and central bank insisted that RTGS had the same value as greenbacks, even as it plummeted in the black market. Officials relented last month by opening a formal interbank market for RTGS.

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Government to introduce a new currency called E-Zollar by September?

by Spotlight
 14 hrs ago | 14345 Views
mangundya-rbz.jpg
 
In a pretexted bid to bring an end to the nation's perennial nightmarish currency woes, government is allegedly working on a secret plan to introduce a digital Zimbabwe dollar, as soon as a new currency it has already printed and said to be hiding, is rolled out by around September this year, Spotlight Zimabwe, has been told.

High level officials in the ministry of finance and at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), this week said the mooted Zimbabwe digital dollar is reportedly the brainchild of finance minister, Mthuli Ncube, who is thought to be having the backing of numerous financial technology firms from abroad for the massive project, which will inevitably compel all citizens to use digital wallets, as President Emmerson Mnangagwa's administration, slowly but surely pushes for the use of cryptocurrencies and virtual cash in the economy.

A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security, while digital wallets are a software-based system for making e-commerce transactions through computers, tablets or smartphones. In general, bank accounts of individual users are linked with their digital wallet, which can store complete user information including credentials, transaction history and personal details.

As first revealed by this publication on 14 December 2018, Mnangagwa's regime is warehousing a new Zimbabwe currency at a classified location, which was reportedly printed by the Chinese government in return for allowing Beijing unperturbed access to the country's diamonds and oil drilling rights. China has also been contracted to construct a new opulent capital city in Mount Hampden, under the same deal. We reported that the new money was expected to be launched in early 2020, to repeal and replace the then surrogate currency of bond notes, before they were renamed to RTGS dollars together with all forms of electronic money by the central bank last month. The RTGS dollar, derives its name from the country's interbank online platform, Real Time Gross Settlement.

Former finance minister, Tendai Biti, blew the whistle about the imminent launch of the new currency days before RBZ chief, John Panonetsa Mangudya, announced his monetary policy statement in February, but the authorities denied the story and existence of the new local currency, only to make a tacit admission through Ncube that a local currency was only six months away, and in the meantime merging bond notes and mobile money into the current RTGS regime.

Spotlight Zimbabwe, has it on good authority that there had been a policy warfare in recent times in government between the finance ministry and RBZ over whether or not to introduce a new currency, and the idea of RTGS dollars, which ended up roping in Mnangagwa's office for final policy direction. Ncube desired to lay the ground for the country's own cryptocurrency through the experiment of RTGS dollars, while Mangudya allegedly planned to announce a new currency during his monetary policy pronouncement, we have gathered.

Within a fortnight of his appointment as minister in September 2018, Ncube started hinting about the digital Zimbabwe dollar, when he openly called for the country to invest in cryptocurrencies, as a measure to assist in solving the economy's cash crunch.

"The RTGS dollars are actually a trail run for the digital Zimbabwe dollar," said a senior official with the finance ministry. "I can confirm to you that our country is going to launch a digital dollar, that will operate concurrently with a new currency expected to circulate in September. It's all being done in secret and two fintech companies (names supplied) from abroad are ready to render their services. FM (finance minister Ncube) wants the central bank to establish a cryptocurrency division for this purpose, and plans are at an advanced stage."

Another long serving civil servant in the same ministry said government has been advised not to completely remove bank notes from the system to avoid resistance and public protest, if they want the digital dollar to be a success, that is why a new local currency is coming in a few months from now, as a precursor to the digital Zimbabwe dollar.

"It's a delicate matter. People are not fools and they prefer physical notes to virtual money. Even in Europe and America there is resistance for digital currencies from the general public. In our case, they have decided to first bring in the new currency of bank notes, then immediately after that bring in the digital Zimbabwe dollar. Noone will be forced into accepting it, but people will eventually fall for it due to convenience. We shall all be using it, and before you know it the bank notes will be gone without much notice. That's how it's done."

RBZ sources said a team of experts from the central bank and ministry of finance has been tasked with coming up with a legal framework for the digital dollar, likely to be called E-Zollar.

"The new Zimbawe digital dollar or E-Zollar it's likely name, will seek to emulate the E-Ora in South Africa, which was tested in 2018 but unlike E-Ora, which is for a small community ours will be national," the sources said. "A legal framework for the provision of the digital dollar is being worked out, such that it is adopted as legal tender and the RBZ can have regulatory powers over it."

The E-Ora is from South Africa's predominantly white community of Orania, located along the Orange River in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape province. Pegged to the South African rand, the digital currency is issued by the Oranian Chamber of Commerce, and is meant for exclusive use in Orania, a town of around 1600 people.

The Canadian city of Calgary has also followed suit, and launched it's own digital currency known as the Calgary Digital Dollar, which will be used exclusively in the City of Calgary located in Alberta Province alongside the federal currency, the Canadian dollar.

According to RBZ digital transactions, underpinned by mobile money, accounted for over 90% of the US$97.5 billion in total value transactions for Zimbabwe in 2017 alone.
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Business / Local

New Zimbabwe currency in 21 days

by Mandla Ndlovu
 10 Aug 2019 at 10:01hrs | 26471 Views
JOHN-MANGUDYA-680x380123.jpg
 
The Zimbabwe Reserve Bank is expected to launch a new series of Zimbabwe Dollars to replace the Bond notes and the non physical RTGS$ in twenty one days. 

An RBZ source who spoke to this reporter on Friday midnight said they emerged from a meeting where all systems were set at go. 
 
I am just coming from  a marathon meeting with the bosses and I can assure you that the Zim dollar will be printed and unveiled in the next 21 days ceteris paribus," the source said. "The Governor has been busy the whole week in consultation with relevant stakeholders to make sure that the physical notes are launched with public confidence as they will ease the liquid crisis that the country is faced with."

The source added that the new notes are anticipated to stabilize the Zim dollar at around 1:1 rate with the South African Rand thereby giving a boost to salaries that workers have been crying of. 

In June Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube issued an SI that banned the use of foreign currency as legal tender in the country,

"The Zimbabwe dollar shall, with effect from 24th June 2019 … be the sole legal tender in Zimbabwe in all transactions," read the SI.

"The British pound, United States Dollar, South African rand, Botswana pula and any other foreign currency whatsoever shall no longer be legal tender alongside the Zimbabwe dollar in any transactions in Zimbabwe." It added.

 

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1 hour ago, blueskyline said:

https://bulawayo24.com/index-id-business-sc-local-byo-167963.html.....

Business / Local

New Zimbabwe currency in 21 days

by Mandla Ndlovu
 10 Aug 2019 at 10:01hrs | 26471 Views
JOHN-MANGUDYA-680x380123.jpg
 
The Zimbabwe Reserve Bank is expected to launch a new series of Zimbabwe Dollars to replace the Bond notes and the non physical RTGS$ in twenty one days. 

An RBZ source who spoke to this reporter on Friday midnight said they emerged from a meeting where all systems were set at go. 
 
I am just coming from  a marathon meeting with the bosses and I can assure you that the Zim dollar will be printed and unveiled in the next 21 days ceteris paribus," the source said. "The Governor has been busy the whole week in consultation with relevant stakeholders to make sure that the physical notes are launched with public confidence as they will ease the liquid crisis that the country is faced with."

The source added that the new notes are anticipated to stabilize the Zim dollar at around 1:1 rate with the South African Rand thereby giving a boost to salaries that workers have been crying of. 

In June Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube issued an SI that banned the use of foreign currency as legal tender in the country,

"The Zimbabwe dollar shall, with effect from 24th June 2019 … be the sole legal tender in Zimbabwe in all transactions," read the SI.

"The British pound, United States Dollar, South African rand, Botswana pula and any other foreign currency whatsoever shall no longer be legal tender alongside the Zimbabwe dollar in any transactions in Zimbabwe." It added.

 

.

Thanks BL

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  • 10 months later...

has anyone noticed the Zimbabwean  RTGS dollar , new series of zimbabwe dollar has went up almost 1700% in the past year? Here's the link https://tradingeconomics.com/zimbabwe/currency

  

I was wondering if anyone has cashed in the older 2008 100 trillion series zim dollar  recently and made a profit ? I'm new to this investment and I've heard that some investors in the older series has made some money on this newer series increase. Any info . on where to cash out if this is true would be greatly appreciated.

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On 6/28/2020 at 2:06 AM, handy said:

I was wondering if anyone has cashed in the older 2008 100 trillion series zim dollar  recently and made a profit ? I'm new to this investment and I've heard that some investors in the older series has made some money on this newer series increase. Any info . on where to cash out if this is true would be greatly appreciated.


All the older Zimbabwe notes are completely obsolete as currency, but the 100 trillion and some of the other denominations are popular with collectors.  the 100 trillion is the highest denomination note ever printed by any country so people like to have one as a novelty.  since they were essentially worthless when they were phased out, getting $25 for one as a collectible is a nice profit.

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