BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says it has written to international exchanges requesting them to officially recognise the Zimbabwe dollar as a tradeable currency.
The reintroduction of the local currency as the sole legal tender in the country has so far received mixed feelings.
“We have sent messages to international organisations about our currency to say we now have the Zimbabwe dollar so pretty soon they will now say the currency of Zimbabwe, is the Zimbabwe dollar. When it comes to convertibility, the Zimbabwe dollar would be recognised outside Zimbabwe,” RBZ director of research John Mafararikwa said yesterday at a breakfast meeting organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe.
“If you have the Zimbabwe dollar, you approach your bank if want to travel outside the country or import, you go to the bank to get foreign currency before you travel. The key is that you should make the interbank work.”
Economist Eddie Cross told NewsDay Business at the same event that stability was needed for international organisations to accept the Zimbabwe dollar.
“I think we have got a long way to go yet … Once we have got a bit of stability and a genuine market rate because contrary to what the RBZ said today, there is no market for the interbank. They (banks) are all doing their own thing individually, then they consult each other afterwards and decide what average price to announce. So there is no transparency and so I think we have got to get that right,” he said.
“So, when we get that, a genuine market rate, and you can walk into a bank or a bureau de change and you can change Zimbabwe dollars for US dollars or for rand or kwacha on the street or across the bank counter, until that happens, they (international organisations) will not treat us seriously.”
