Zimbabwe to receive 'special coins' by November

The $20 million worth of special coins expected in the country by November are to help ease change problems created by the absence of coins, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya has said.

He said the availability of the coins will lead to a reduction in prices of commodities as they had been originally priced with the absence of coins in mind.

Mangudya said the country cannot print the special coins that will be used at par with the United States dollars as it was expensive for the country.

Mangudya said the move to introduce special coins was not peculiar to Zimbabwe as the country once used the currency board in 1938.

In his monetary policy last month, Mangudya said RBZ would be importing special coins of 1c, 5c, 10c, 20c, and 50c whose values would be at par with the US cents.

Rand coins of 10c, 20c, 50c, R1, R2 and R5 are also being imported to buttress the multiple currency system which is dominated by the US$ and rand.