ZiG firms as Mnangagwa says de-dollarisation might be much sooner

The Zimbabwe God, which hit a low of 13.7618 against the United States dollar yesterday, today firmed to 13.6946 after President Emmerson Mnangagwa said that his government was working on a de-dollarisation programme which could see the ZiG becoming the sole trading currency in the country way before 2030.

The ZiG was introduced on 5 April and hit a high of 13.2183 on 23 May but dropped to its lowest level of 13.7618 yesterday. 

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mushayavanhu warned that the ZiG would appreciate in June when companies paid their quarterly taxes but this did not happen.

Zimbabwe said it would use multi-currencies until the end of 2030 but Mnangagwa said this could end much earlier.

He said in Mutare yesterday Zimbabwe might end use of multi-currency before 2030 because it could not continue using currencies of countries that were hostile to the country.

“Biden does not like us, but you like the money from his country, does that work? So as ZANU-PF we cannot keep using and relying on a currency that belongs to people who do not like us because one day they will try to hamper our efforts, then we will not have a leg to stand on,” Mnangagwa was quoted by the Herald as saying.

“In two years, in fact two years is too far off, but there will come a time when our ZiG currency has fully penetrated the market, then I will give a directive that the country will be using the ZiG only,” the President said.

“If you go to the shops to buy with the US dollar, they will refuse it. Even those who were performing and entertaining us today, who were being given US dollar tokens, in two months’ time you will be given the ZiG and no US dollars because that is our currency and we should propel it.” 

Trading in Zimbabwe is currently dominated by the US dollar. Mushayavanhu said he would be happy if transactions in local currency could improve from the current 20% to 30% by the end of this year, then to 40% by end of next and 50% by 2026.

He said that once transactions in local currency reached 50%, there would be no need to worry because there would now be confidence in the local currency.

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