Zimbabwe to continue using multicurrencies

Zimbabwe's use of the multicurrency system will continue until such a time that the country's macroeconomic fundamentals have re-aligned, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said today in his inaugural State of The Nation Address (SONA).

President Mnangagwa said, "My Government shall, however, continue with the use of the multicurrency system up until the current negative economic fundamentals have been addressed, to give credence to the introduction of the local currency.

"The economic fundamentals that need to be met are a sustainable fiscal, foreign currency reserves of between three to six months of import cover and sustainable consumer and business confidence.

"These economic fundamentals are yet to be made to justify the introduction of our own currency," he said.

Zimbabwe currently uses a basket of currencies dominated by the United States dollar, as well as financial instruments – the bond notes, which are guaranteed by an international financial organisation.

Although the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has pegged and maintained the US dollar-bond note official rate at 1:1, cash shortages have resulted in a thriving black market for physical currency, both bond notes and United States dollar notes.