In 2022, the country introduced a law compelling miners to pay part of their royalties in physical gold boosting national reserves.
Apparently, gold reserves have now risen to 3 tonnes, up from 800kg at the start of 2024, the central bank says.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe aims to build gold and USD cash reserves to support the currency with three months’ worth of import cover.
Zimbabwe is one of several African economies looking to boost gold reserves:
Ghana, Africa’s largest gold producer, has agreements with miners to buy 20% of their output.
Bank of Ghana’s reserves rose from 8.77 tonnes in 2022 to 30.8 tonnes by February
Tanzania in 2024 directed exporters to sell at least 20% of their gold to central bank.
SA maintains gold reserves of around 125 tonnes.
Rwanda, Namibia and Kenya plan to start gold purchases this year.
