Zimbabwe dollar to be pegged against South Africa rand: Minister

The government is leaning towards pegging the Zimbabwe dollar currency to the South African rand, with Finance minister Mthuli Ncube saying this would make local currency more competitive in the region.

Zimbabwe did not adopt the rand due to onerous conditions set by the South African Reserve Bank, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Friday.

Speaking during a live radio interview, Mnangagwa said he was part of a committee that approached the SARB, with the intention of adopting the rand as “our domestic currency of Zimbabwe”– before Zimbabwe adopted the multi-currency system.

“But when we approached the SARB, they gave us a check list with certain conditions for us to use the rand.”

“It also needed South Africa to give us money (notes) that is commiserate with our GDP,” he said adding that some of the conditions were not acceptable.

He stated that the government led by Robert Mugabe then decided to use a basket of currencies without formally adopting them.

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