Zimbabwe's new Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube may scrap the quasi currency bond note and liberalise exchange controls as part of reforms he plans to implement by end of this year, a state-owned weekly newspaper reported on Sunday.
The southern African nation, which dumped its currency in favour of the US dollar in 2009 following years of hyperinflation, introduced bond notes in November 2016 in a bid to ease acute shortages of cash. The shortages have, however worsened while a black market continues to thrive.
The notes are backed by US dollars loaned to the government by the African Export and Import Bank, and can be used like cash. Officially, they are pegged to the dollar at a rate of 1:1, but on the street $1 fetches up to 1.50 in bond notes.
"I am very clear that there have to be currency reforms and the current currency approach is not working," Ncube told the government-owned Sunday Mail.
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