Zimbabwe shelves own currency
A 100 billion Zimbabwean dollar note is seen in a box of apples in Harare, Zimbabwe.
HARARE, Sunday
Zimbabwe will not use its own local currency for at least a year, a state newspaper reported on Sunday, while it tries to repair an economy which critics say was destroyed by President Robert Mugabe.
The southern African state has allowed the use of multiple foreign currencies since January to stem hyperinflation which had rocketed to over 230 million per cent and left the Zimbabwe dollar almost worthless.
The state-controlled Sunday Mail said the unity government of Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai decided the Zimbabwe dollar should only be reintroduced when industrial output reaches about 60 per cent of capacity from the current 20 per cent average.
“The Zimbabwe dollar will be out for at least a year. We resolved that there will be no immediate plans to (re)introduce the money because there is nothing to support and hold its value,” the newspaper quoted Economic Planning and Development Minister Elton Mangoma as saying.
“Our focus is to first ensure that we have a vibrant industry. If we try to reintroduce the local currency now, it will face the same fate of being wiped out of its value within weeks.”
Critics say Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, has destroyed one of Africa’s most promising economies through controversial policies, including the seizure of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to inexperienced black farmers.
