Gold coin takes Zimbabwe by storm, central bank releasing 2 000 more

The gold coin that was introduced last week to shore up the local currency and provide an alternative store of value has taken Zimbabwe by storm with 1 500 of the 2000 coins that had been minted being sold in the first four days.

According to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe 85% of the coins were sold in local currency with only 15% being sold in foreign currency.

The coin started trading at US$1823.80 on 25 July but fell to US$1799.75 on Thursday. It was up to US$1841.18 on Friday and US$181.07 today.

It has, however, been on a steady increase in Zimbabwe dollars kicking off at $805 745.35 on 25 July to $863 101.13 today.

The central bank said it is releasing an additional 2 000 coins this week.

(148 VIEWS)

Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.