Much ado about new Zim dollar notes

HARARE – e Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, said on Tuesday industry was ready for the new bank notes Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube says will be introduced soon to replace bond notes - although a top economist argues that the struggling country is not yet ready for a substantive currency of its own.

Zimbabwe has been battling a nancial sector crisis that has occasioned pricing distortions and bottlenecks for companies and consumers alike.

e situation, say some economists, has been exacerbated by the government’s ban on usage of foreign currencies for transactions.

is has seen the government enforce usage of the Zimbabwe dollar in the form of bond notes and coins, electronic and mobile money for all formal transactions.

In reality, however, foreign currencies such as the rand, US dollar and Botswana pula are still changing hands in the Some economists, have been exacerbated by the go ern ent s ban on usage of foreign currencies

for transactions. settlement of transactions.

With Bloomberg reporting on Tuesday that Zimbabwe’s treasury is set to introduce new Zimbabwe dollar notes to replace the bond notes, business bodies have said they are ready for the new notes as commerce companies are already trading in local currency after introduction of the Zim dollar on June 24 this year.

"Yes, we are ready for the new currency – we are supportive of government initiatives on monetary issues.

Our members are already trading in Zim dollar (bond notes and electronic currency)," Christopher Mugaga, chief executive o cer of the ZNCC, said by phone from Harare, the capital.