Bond Notes to be dispensed via ATMs, Zimbabwe officially launches new money

Zimbabwe bond notes will be dispensed via Automated Teller Machines(ATMs), the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya has said.

The country is introducing a new currency next week that will ‘replace US dollars already in people’s bank accounts’ on a tricky one-to-one exchange rate according to a government directive.

Critics have viewed the move as unfair  and insensible as ‘asking a farmer to give up a cow so they get a donkey on a one-as-to-one exchange rate.’

While Mangudya insists that no one will be forced to use bond notes, there is likelihood that it will be tough to lay hands on the prized US dollar especially if a parallel exchange market emerges.

As if to alert people of  the crises ahead, Zimbabwe Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa yesterday warned sceptics that they will reject bond notes at their own peril,  and further said their families and businesses will be negatively affected by such a snub.

Chinamasa could not give a satisfactory answer when asked in Parliament how the value of bond notes would be maintained at a rate of one-to-one with the United States dollar in the face of fierce resistance by the market.