Troubled African state to replace US dollar with gold

Zimbabwean gold (ZiG) will become the only means of payment to displace the US dollar in the country in 2026, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said, The Daily Maverick publication said.

Photo: pixabay by Стивбидмид, PDM

The US dollar currently accounts for as much as 80 percent of all transactions in the Zimbabwean financial system, including retail sales. According to Mnangagwa, ZiG will be distributed throughout the country and stores will gradually refuse to accept US dollars from customers in two years.

The news about the introduction of the new national currency in Zimbabwe — Zimbabwean gold — was first reported in early April. It was said that all local dollar reserves would be converted into the new means of payment that would be backed by reserves of foreign currency and precious metals mined in the country.

In 2019, the Zimbabwean government banned the circulation of the US dollar for several months. The economy of the African state fell into hyperinflation once again last summer after the government eased control over the national currency exchange rate. One had to pay as many as 100 large notes of the local currency to buy a loaf of bread.