New token notes no relief for cash-short Zimbabweans
HARARE: A token currency issued in Zimbabwe this week to ease critical cash shortages has brought little relief as desperate customers queue for hours to withdraw money while some traders reject the new notes.
The central bank on Monday issued US$10 million in US dollarequivalent “bond notes”, ignoring resistance from citizens and companies who feared a return to the days of hyperinflation.
But a day later, taxi driver Adrian Nyakusvipa said the new currency had brought no relief to his painfully slow business.
“We thought there would be a difference after the introduction of bond notes but nothing has changed so far,” Nyakusvipa told AFP.
“I have been parked here since morning without ferrying a single customer.”
“It’s lunch time which is supposed to be the busiest time of the day and I am lying here in the car.”
Zimbabwe abandoned its own currency in 2009 after rampant hyperinflation, which peaked at 500 billion per cent, rendered the local dollar useless.
The adoption of foreign currencies like the US dollar and the South African rand brought relative economic stability.
But the gains were soon lost as the government pursued aggressive policies that scared off investors, including indigenisation laws forcing foreign-owned companies to sell majority stakes to locals.
The cash shortage has exacerbated the situation in recent months, with the government unable to pay soldiers and civil servants on time, and customers camping out at bank entrances overnight, desperately hoping to get hold of the little cash available.
It was these shortages that prompted the central bank to introduce the bond notes – officially a parallel currency to the greenback – which the government says is backed by a US$200-million dollar facility from the African ExportImport Bank.
But when the plans were announced in May, citizens and pressure groups took to the streets, fearing a return to the days of hyperinflation when shop prices could jump several times in a single day. — AFP