HARARE – Finance minister Mthuli Ncube has told lawmakers he was equally puzzled by some fuel dealers’ reluctance to accept the new ZiG currency as payment in their businesses.
Ncube was appearing before joint parliamentary portfolio committees on budget and finance as well as industry and commerce on Tuesday.
He said some local fuel dealers were still in the transition mode but would soon take ZiG without difficulty.
“I don’t know why they don’t accept ZiG. We are in a multi-currency regime; they ought to accept if a buyer of fuel wishes to pay in ZIG,” Ncube said.
“This issue of transition from a volatile Zimbabwean dollar to a stable ZiG will take time for people to get their heads around it but with time, they will accept ZiG without difficulty.
“They should accept ZiG.”
He said his ministry and the central bank will continue to track and encourage the acceptance of the ZiG by the local market.
“This is an issue we will follow up to make sure they accept ZiG and build confidence in ZiG that they can exchange ZiG for USD to import their fuel and replenish their stocks,” he said.
Ncube said authorities “will search low and high” for measures to make sure that the new currency is on demand.
“We are not limited to any set of ideas. We will search low and high for any other measures that we can implement to ensure that our currency remains in demand,” he said.
Introduced early April this year to replace the Zimbabwe dollar, ZiG continues to face acceptance challenges among Zimbabweans who have seen savings decimated by recurrently high inflation.
Some Zimbabwean authorities have come under criticism for alleged hypocrisy after their private businesses have been caught trading exclusively in US dollars while they encourage acceptance of ZiG in public addresses.
