By Ebi Kesiena
Zimbabwe’s central bank has taken action to address the shortage of the newly introduced Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency, which has been causing difficulties in daily transactions, Xinhua reported.
The southern African nation introduced the gold-backed ZiG on April 5, aiming to curb inflation and stabilize the currency.
In a press release late Wednesday, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor John Mushayavanhu announced that the bank has partnered with its financial services arm, Homelink, to facilitate public transactions in smaller denominations of ZiG1, ZiG2, ZiG5, and ZiG10.
These smaller denominations are intended to ensure the availability of change for everyday transactions, while the central bank retains the larger denominations of ZiG20, ZiG50, ZiG100, and ZiG200 to control the parallel market and combat inflation.
Figures from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, released on May 29, indicate that consumer prices have dropped by 2.4 percent since April. This decline follows the launch of the ZiG on April 5, part of broader measures to achieve exchange rate stability and reduce inflation.
Governor Mushayavanhu emphasized the RBZ’s commitment to ensuring sufficient circulation of the local currency to support regular business transactions and economic activities.
“The bank appeals to all individuals, commuters, public transport operators, retailers, informal traders and their associations, vendor associations, and other key stakeholders who interact with the public to visit their nearest Homelink branch. They can swipe for ZiG cash using their local currency debit or credit cards starting from June 10,” he said.
He added that foreign currency could also be exchanged for ZiG at Homelink branches.
“The partnership with Homelink is part of broader initiatives by the bank to ensure the availability of adequate ZiG cash in the economy. Moving forward, this initiative will be expanded to include other bureaux de change,” Mushayavanhu added.
