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<h6 id="img-1" class="media-primary media-content() "><em>Photo: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP</em><br />
<strong>Zimbabwe once removed 12 zeros from its currency at the height of hyper-inflation in 2009</strong></h6>
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<span style="color:#400606;">Hyperinflation led government to adopt US and South African currencies in 2009 replacing unusable local currency Zimbabweans not too happy with decision to print &#8216;local&#8217;</span></h1>
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<p>Zimbabweans are forming long queues outside banks amid a cash shortage that has prompted the government to announce plans to print a local version of the US dollar and to limit withdrawals.<br />
The government adopted US and South African currencies in 2009 after hyperinflation rendered the national currency unusable as the economy collapsed.<br />
A recent shortage of foreign notes led Reserve Bank Governor John Mangudya to unveil a raft of radical measures on Wednesday, including limiting withdrawals to $1,000 or 20,000 South African rand per day.</p>
<h6><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-22114" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/john-mangudya2.jpg" alt="john-mangudya2" width="600" height="342" /></strong><br />
<strong>John Mangudya Governor Zimbabwe Reserve Bank: &#8216;The central bank would also print its own dollar-equivalent bond notes – “which are currently at the design stage” – to ease the cash crunch.&#8217;</strong></h6>
<p>Mangudya said that the central bank would also print its own dollar-equivalent bond notes – “which are currently at the design stage” – to ease the cash crunch.<br />
Mangudya denied the new banknotes were a step towards re-introducing the tarnished Zimbabwe dollar, but the plan was still criticised by some experts.<br />
“This is extremely damaging to the interests of everyone and very dangerous to the economy,” independent economist John Robertson said in Harare.<br />
“It won’t be long before this becomes another inflation story. People will refuse to be paid their wages in bond notes.<br />
“Shops will not accept them as they cannot be used to restock [from abroad]. I am hoping that the government can be talked out of it.”<br />
Bond coins were introduced in Zimbabwe in 2014 to tackle the problem of small change.<br />
The new notes in denominations of $2, $5, $10 and $20 will play a similar role, acting as tokens.</p>
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<h6><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-22112" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/30001.jpg" alt="30001" width="620" height="372" /><em> Photo: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP<br />
</em><strong>Zimbabweans wait to withdraw cash in Harare</strong></h6>
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<p>They will be backed by a $200-million support facility provided by Afreximbank (Africa Export-Import Bank), the government said.<br />
“This does not signal the reintroduction of the Zimbabwe currency,” Mangudya said. “The fundamentals are not yet right for its comeback. This is just a measure to curb illicit flows out of the country.”<br />
Economists blame the cash shortage on a trade deficit which saw the country’s import bills standing at $490m in the first quarter against $167m in exports.<br />
Apart from limits on withdrawals, the amount of cash that can be taken out of the country per trip has been cut from $5,000 to $1,000.<br />
In the queues outside the banks, tempers were running high.<br />
“I am supposed to be at work but here I am queueing since yesterday,” said Monique Fore, 39, a bursar at a school in Harare. “It’s becoming embarrassing explaining to my landlord that I can’t withdraw money to pay rent.”In some cases, banks have limited the amount that can be taken out to $200 – well below the maximum set by the government.</p>
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<h6><em><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-22113" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/3254.jpg" alt="3254" width="620" height="372" /></em><br />
<em>Photo: Huang Jingwen/Xinhua Press/Corbis</em><br />
<strong>President Mugabe receiving Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Harare. The Chinese currency, the yuan will become legal tender in Zimbabwe after Chinese president Xi Jinping made a rare visit to Zimbabwe</strong></h6>
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<p>Last year December, Zimbabwe had also announced that it will make the Chinese yuan legal tender after Beijing confirmed it would cancel $40m in debts.</p>
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<p>Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said: “They [China] said they are cancelling our debts that are maturing this year and we are in the process of finalising the debt instruments and calculating the debts” . Chinamasa also announced that Zimbabwe will officially make the Chinese yuan legal tender as it seeks to increase trade with Beijing.<br />
Zimbabwe abandoned its own dollar in 2009 after hyperinflation, which had peaked at around 500bn%, rendered it unusable.<br />
It then started using a slew of foreign currencies, including the US dollar and the South African rand.</p>
<h6><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-22115" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/chinamasa-patrick-chinamasa.jpg" alt="chinamasa-patrick-chinamasa" width="630" height="400" /><br />
Patrick Chinamasa Zimbabwe Finance minister: &#8216;Zimbabwe will officially make the Chinese yuan legal tender as it seeks to increase trade with Beijing.&#8217;</strong></h6>
<p>The yuan was later added to the basket of the foreign currencies, but its use had not been approved yet for public transactions in the market dominated by the greenback.<br />
Shadreck Mafukeni, a 57-year-old carpenter working for a furniture manufacturer, said his salary had been deposited in the bank on Tuesday but he had been unable to withdraw any money.<br />
“I need to pay rent, my children’s school fees and I also need to repay debts to several people I owe money.<br />
“I have used the little money I had at home on the bus fare. If I don’t get money today, I will walk back home.”<br />
Zimbabwe once removed 12 zeros from its battered currency at the height of hyper-inflation in 2009 when the largest note was the $100 trillion denomination.<br />
The seizure of white-owned farms starting in 2000 left the agricultural sector in ruin, and triggered a sharp economic slowdown, with mass unemployment, emigration and many business closures.</p>
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‘Live in Zimbabwe? but shop in USD’: Zimbabwe to print local ‘US dollar’ to ease severe cash crunch
