As sound as a dollar
Another day, another Zim dollar
Evidence suggests Zimbabwe is moving back to dollarisation – despite announcing a new currency just a few months ago
It’s not even three months since Zimbabwe decided to bring coherence to its multicurrency economy by introducing a new local currency, the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) dollar, and already evidence suggests the country is leaning towards the US dollar as its unit of exchange. In February, new finance minister Mthuli Ncube called time on bond notes in favour of the RTGS dollar and established a managed interbank floating foreign currency market.
But for many, the memory of runaway inflation in 2008 weighed heavily on any optimism surrounding Ncube’s reforms. It was the adoption of the US dollar in 2009 that brought hyperinflation under control — the economy stabilised, grew consistently and was in a state of deflation.Fears of a recurrence are now driving a rush to preserve value — and the US dollar is one way in which to do so...
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