Some people are now saying “it’s true: Zimbabwe has the strongest currency in Africa”.
Sounds unbelievable – but that’s what the official state media claimed on Wednesday, hours after President Robert Mugabe’s laboured 28 minute speech.
Zimbabwe state media reported that Zimbabweans “have full confidence in” their currency, ignoring the fact that photos of a broken bond coin are causing widespread alarm on social media. Ten million US worth of bond notes were introduced last Monday along with two million US worth of bond coins.
The central bank insists this surrogate currency is backed by a 200 million US dollar loan from Afrexim Bank. But many fear the notes will drag Zimbabwe back to the dark days of hyperinflation that reached a peak around 2006-2008.
Long bank queues have not improved since the notes were introduced. That is partly to do with the fact that teachers have just been paid and are having to queue repeatedly because of capped daily bank withdrawals.
The 28 minute speech by Mugabe has been misinterpreted by some as a message to say “all was fine”, when in actual fact things are not improving at all.
Next week, Zimbabwe will pour in thousands more in bond notes as the country desperately tries to stop acute cash shortages.
