In a government gazette published on Monday 24th June, the president said: “The British pound, US dollar, South African rand, Botswana pula and any other foreign currency whatsoever shall no longer be legal tender alongside the Zimbabwe dollar in any transaction in Zimbabwe.”
This means that the multi-currency system that Zimbabwe has been using has now come to an end and transactions are now to be conducted in local currency.
There is no physical currency called the Zim dollar yet but effective 24th June, what the Zimbabweans have been calling RTGS dollars and bond notes are being referred to as Zimbabwean dollars.
The Minister of Finance, Mthuli Ncube has issued a statutory instrument that defines what the Zim dollar is. The same instrument sets aside the multicurrency system that has been in place since 2009. The ‘new Zim dollar is now the only accepted legal tender within Zimbabwe except for specified exceptions.
