Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti claims that the new Zimbabwe dollar notes were printed in January this year but the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) could not release them at the time.
Biti argued that the small denominations will be of no use as the economy has descended into hyperinflation. He said:
The madness continues unabated. These notes were printed long back in January 2019 but they couldn’t use them thanks to a tweet.
Now they are pumping same into a market which thanks to hyperinflation has no use for small units of $ 2 or $5. Arbitrage and rent.
On 11 February this year, Biti claimed that the RBZ was planning to introduce a new currency the following week. He used Twitter to make his claim.
The regime will this week introduce a new Zimbabwe currency not backed by any #reserves & without the context of structural reforms which a prerequisite of currency reform. That move is pure undiluted #insanity. An unbanked currency is just the #bond note by another name.
There is no country in the world that has involuntarily dollarized that has ever succeeded in de -dollarizing. Zim will not be the 1st. Whilst a currency is about fundamentals, ultimately the most important fundamental is confidence There is absolutely no trust in this regime.
Considering the
#harm and#damage inflicted on this economy by its Central Bank over the years to now, the question to be posed is, does Zimbabwe really need a Central Bank? In my submission, it can and will do without one.
Many more paper currencies could be printed exploiting the ignorance and illiteracy of masses yet what is critical is consolidating the economic fundamentals through systematic industrialization; sanitization of the Zimbabwe political landscape; getting to real mutually accommodating socioeconomic democratic platforms; locally and externally inclusive dispensations free of self imposition, die-hard dictatorial culture; new language on inclusivity departing from the abrasive and traumatic use of revolutionary and land reform jargon that has deeply and silently destroyed the societal fabric, mutual trust and ego of many citizens and driven Zimbabwe into a virtual pariah state, certainly quite difficult to have hope of the future of the Zimbabwe civilization..
So what?
So what?