Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, John Mangudya has said de-dollarisation is a process and not an event, and additionally, foreign currency will remain acceptable in a de-dollarized economy.
Mangudya claimed that in the DRC, 70 per cent of transactions remain in forex despite a path to de-dollarisation, while in Belarus forex is still being used though the country is now in its eighth year of de-dollarisation. He said:
As a Government, we have defined where we are going, and that is the de-dollarisation route.
Because it’s a process and not an event, we are saying as the central bank that we believe within five years, we will complete de-dollarisation.
By de-dollarisation we are not saying there will be no more foreign currency in circulation; that is a wrong definition of de-dollarisation because if you look at those countries that have de-dollarised, for instance, Zambia, Cameroon, Ethiopia, they still accept foreign currency and you can still open a foreign currency account.
Mangudya’s remarks follow a recent announcement made by Zuva Petroleum that it will be accepting foreign currency for fuel payments at eight of the firm’s service stations across the country.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA), which license fuel companies to sell fuel in foreign currency, has already made it clear that applicants will have to meet a number of conditions.