Acting Zimbabwe central bank governor Charity Dhliway addresses a
conference in Harare on January 29, 2014. Zimbabwe has approved domestic
trading in the Chinese yuan, Indian rupee, Japanese yen and Australian
dollar, in a move that will effectively make those currencies legal
tender. PHOTO | JEKESAI NJIKIZANA
AFP
HARARE
The
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has announced the adoption of four more
currencies in an attempt to address cash shortages in the economy.
The
currencies of China, India, Japan and Australia are set to be legal
tender and will be used alongside the US Dollar, South African Rand,
Botswana Pula, British Pound and the Euro.
Zimbabwe introduced the multi-currency system in 2009 in response to runaway inflation.
“Trade
and investment ties between Zimbabwe, China, India, Japan and Australia
have grown appreciably,” said RBZ acting governor Charity Dhliwayo. “It
is against this background of growth in trade and investment ties that
in the 2014 national budget, the minister of finance and economic
development underscored the importance of including other currencies in
the basket of already circulating currencies.”
She said exporters and the general public could open accounts in the various currencies in the basket.
The adoption of multiple currencies helped Zimbabwe stem hyperinflation, which peaked at 500 billion percent in 2008.
President Robert Mugabe’s government was forced to dump the Zimbabwe dollar in 2009.
Zimbabwe
has been trying to promote trade and investment with Asian countries
after the veteran ruler’s inner circle was slapped with sanctions by
western countries for alleged human rights violations
.
.
Dr Dhliwayo also said the RBZ would assume its role of banker to government on March 31.
The
bank would resume its lender of last resort function after government
agreed to inherit its $1.35 billion debt and recapitalise it to the tune
of $200 million.
No comments :
Post a Comment