Zimbabwe Switches To New Gold-backed Currency (ZiG)

ZiG (Zimbabwe Gold) Is The New Currency Zimbabwe Has Launched.It is the latest attempt to stabilise an economy that has lurched from crisis to crisis for the past 25 years.

The ZiG replaces a Zimbabwean dollar, the RTGS, that had lost three-quarters of its value so far this year.

However, the US dollar, which accounts for 85% of transactions, will remain legal tender and most people are likely to continue to prefer this.

The new ZiG banknotes come in denominations of between 1 and 200.

Coins will also be introduced to overcome the shortage of US coins, which has seen people receive change in sweets, small chocolates and pens.

Zimbabwe committes to ensuring that the amount of local currency in circulation was backed by equivalent value in precious minerals – mainly gold – or foreign exchange, in order to prevent the currency losing value like its predecessors.

Promises have now been made by the central bank’s new governor that overprinting will not be allowed to happen again.