Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mushayavanhu on Thursday made a U-turn on the phasing out of Zimbabwe dollar notes saying they remain legal tender until further notice.
When he launched the new currency, Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) on 5 April 2024, Mushayavanhu said the “bond notes” would be phased out by the end of that month and he gave citizens 21 days to convert them to ZiG.
However, in an interview with StarFM, Mushayavanhu said the bond notes will remain in use, co-circulating with ZiG notes indefinitely. He said:
We are currently allowing them (bond notes) to co-circulate. And we will let the market know when the volumes of bond notes coming through have thinned out.
We will then advise a date to say, “After such and such a date, we will no longer be accepting bond notes”.
But for now, let them come through. We don’t want a situation where someone is sitting on bond notes and they are deep in the rural areas.
The Central Bank chief added that the RBZ wants to collect as many ZWL notes before giving “a final deadline.”
The bond notes, which are in ZWL$100 denominations, will co-exist with ZiG, whose notes came into circulation on Tuesday, 30 April.
Coins and the ZiG10 were released first and have since been accessed by the public but are yet to fully address the problem of change.
Citizens have criticized authorities for not thoroughly considering their policies before implementation. When Mushayavanhu announced that the Zimbabwe dollar would no longer be legal tender after 21 days, traders promptly began rejecting bond notes.
Consequently, consumers faced challenges purchasing items priced below US$1 and obtaining change, as bond notes were mainly used for smaller transactions.
Furthermore, the RBZ announced the introduction of a new currency but did not avail coins and notes, and citizens endured nearly a month of waiting before receiving the new currency in physical form.
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