Business / Economy
Zim coins to start circulating December 18
06 Dec 2014 at 07:37hrs | Views
THE new Zimbabwe coins were yesterday unveiled by the central bank, but will only start circulating in the country on December 18.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya said the country will receive $10 million worth of bond coins between now and March which translate to 2% of total banking deposits.
Speaking at the unveiling of the coins yesterday, Mangudya said the bond coins will be issued in 1c, 5c, 10c,25c and 50c.
"The 50c coins shall be released into the market in March 2015 due to the prerequisite security features needed in the design and manufacture of this coin. The initial amount to be made available is $10 million worth of bond coins to be released into the market between December and March 2015.This translates to just below 2% of total deposits," he said.
"The bond coins shall be distributed to the public through normal banking channels and shall be in circulation starting December 18 2014."
Mangudya said in an economy the proportion of coins to money in circulation is normally between 20-25%.
"However, due to the fact that Zimbabwe is using multiple currencies, we envisaged the bond coins to remain below 10% of total bank deposits," he said.
Mangudya said the coins will be used together with United State dollars, rand, euros and other currencies. Their circulation will be limited to Zimbabwe.
The central bank chief said the coins have been introduced to buttress the multiple currency system through the provision of change especially for the US$ notes which have a smallest denomination in circulation in Zimbabwe of $1. Mangudya said so far banks were buying scales to measure the dimensions.
This is the first time that the country has bonded coins since the introduction of multicurrencies in the economy.
Customers have been crying foul due to the unavailability of coins in the market.
Retailers realised profits due to the unavailability of coins as most of them offered customers sweets or vouchers as they did not have in circulation change to give to customers.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya said the country will receive $10 million worth of bond coins between now and March which translate to 2% of total banking deposits.
Speaking at the unveiling of the coins yesterday, Mangudya said the bond coins will be issued in 1c, 5c, 10c,25c and 50c.
"The 50c coins shall be released into the market in March 2015 due to the prerequisite security features needed in the design and manufacture of this coin. The initial amount to be made available is $10 million worth of bond coins to be released into the market between December and March 2015.This translates to just below 2% of total deposits," he said.
"The bond coins shall be distributed to the public through normal banking channels and shall be in circulation starting December 18 2014."
Mangudya said in an economy the proportion of coins to money in circulation is normally between 20-25%.
Mangudya said the coins will be used together with United State dollars, rand, euros and other currencies. Their circulation will be limited to Zimbabwe.
The central bank chief said the coins have been introduced to buttress the multiple currency system through the provision of change especially for the US$ notes which have a smallest denomination in circulation in Zimbabwe of $1. Mangudya said so far banks were buying scales to measure the dimensions.
This is the first time that the country has bonded coins since the introduction of multicurrencies in the economy.
Customers have been crying foul due to the unavailability of coins in the market.
Retailers realised profits due to the unavailability of coins as most of them offered customers sweets or vouchers as they did not have in circulation change to give to customers.
Source - NewsDay
