Zimbabwe says bond notes are an anti-money laundering tool

Zimbabwe’s central bank governor John Mangudya says the proposed bond notes which his bank will introduce shortly will be an anti-money laundering tool which will be useful in guarding against the externalisation of United States dollars.

“The legal tender will operate just like the currencies of the Common Monetary Area which include South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho whose currencies are pegged 1:1 with the rand, but are not legal tender outside their borders,” he told the Sunday Mail.

Zimbabweans are against the bind notes because they feel they are a re-introduction of the local currency which saw the country hitting record inflation eight years ago though they will operate concurrently at the same value as the US dollar.

Zimbabwe has postponed the introducing of the notes several times but now says they will be introduced this month.

Zimbabwe lost $1.8 billion last year through illicit flows and $50 million in the first three months of this year.

Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said Zimbabwe had become a fishing pond for United States dollars.

See also:

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Chinamasa says Zimbabwe will not be a “fishing pond” for US dollars

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