Civil servants say they have no choice but to accept the newly-introduced Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency but said the government needs to build confidence amongst the citizens, especially on how the new currency is going to impact the payment of government services.
In an interview with TellZim News, Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions’ (ZCPTSU) Secretary General David Dzatsunga said that they expect the government to educate them on its implications on taxes, duty, fuel, education, and health care among other critical issues. Said Dzatsunga:
From the ZCPTSU perspective, the initiative to carry out currency reform was vitally necessary given the free fall of the ZWL. As for the ZiG, the jury is still out as to how it is going to impact the welfare of workers.
Having been introduced without much prior consultation, the authorities have to educate us on its implications on taxes, duty, fuel, education, and health care among others.
While we have no choice but to embrace it and strive to make it a success as workers and citizens alike, there is still a ton of confidence-building to be done so that citizens can truly believe we have found a panacea to our perennial currency problem.
Dzatsunga also said civil servants prefer the USD as acceptance of the ZiG would be based on its performance. He said:
As long as we have a basket of currencies workers still prefer the strongest of them. Much will depend on the performance of the ZiG and on whether we will not have to go to the parallel market to get value.
Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) launched ZiG to stabilise the volatile exchange rate.
While businesses rushed to reconfigure their system to adapt to the ZiG, one of the biggest concerns is whether it will create a parallel currency market — one of the biggest threats to exchange rate stability.
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