BY MISHMA CHAKANYUKA
CONFUSION reigns supreme ahead of the introduction of new coins and bank notes of the Zimbabwe dollar with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) yesterday releasing a statement that it will be injecting new two dollar bond coins into circulation by November 11 instead of $2 coins.
In a public notice, RBZ governor John Mangudya said the $2 coins will be used interchangeably with the $2 bond notes which are already in circulation.
“In line with the pronouncement made in the 2019 Mid-Term Monetary Policy Statement and the Press statement of October 2, 2019 to increase the level of physical cash in circulation, the RBZ wishes to advise the public that with effect from November 11, 2019, it shall issue a two-dollar bond coin which will circulate alongside the two-dollar bond note,” Mangudya said.
The central bank last week announced during a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held in Harare that it was going to introduce new currency notes and coins in the next two weeks to ease the liquidity crisis.
The new bond coins are likely to create confusion in the market.
Attempts to get clarity on the issue failed as Mangudya had not responded to questions sent to him by the time of going to print.
The RBZ, which has already announced the features of the $2 and $5 notes said the two dollar bond coin features a bi-metal with the outer rim being copper-nickel plated and the inner core being aluminium bronze plated and serrated rim profile with a groove and edge lettering.
“The currency’s features will also include inscription of the words ‘Two Dollar Bond Coin’ and the numeral and symbol ‘2$’ on the observe side and inscription of the letters ‘RBZ’ and the numeral ‘2018’ on the reverse side,” the statement read.
Zimbabwe has been facing acute cash shortages while the use of electronic money has failed to stem the problem, creating a three-tier pricing model which government is battling to close. The cash shortages have also led to frequent price increases, causing inflation.
