BULAWAYO – Zanu PF has vowed to ensure the severely weakened ZiG bounces back from the abyss to become the country’s “sole” currency.
In party resolutions following its just-ended annual people’s conference in Bulawayo, Zanu PF further resolved to gradually scrap the dominance of the US dollar as the anchor currency in place of the much-resented local currency.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s party said it is going to “take robust measures to strengthen the purchasing power of the Zimbabwe Gold currency (ZiG) and entrench its usage” and further resolved to “promote the wider circulation of the ZiG currency and its availability in all denominations”.
In another ambitious bid, the party also pledged to “expedite efforts to de-dollarise the economy and promote the use of the ZiG as the country’s sole currency”.
Zanu PF further planned to introduce programmes to “curb money laundering, speculation and arbitrage on the parallel market, including the criminalisation of the activities of economic saboteurs, errant manufacturers, retailers and other service providers as well as prescribing deterrent penalties”.
The party however has its work cut out after the currency introduced in April this year has seen its value tumble spectacularly on the official and parallel market with authorities at sixes and sevens on how to stop the slide.
The Reserve bank of Zimbabwe was forced to devalue the ZiG by 43% on September 27 after the gap between the official and unofficial exchange rates significantly widened.
The apparent crash of the country’s currency has seen inflation in October surge to 37.2% from 5.8% a month earlier, according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency.
A government crackdown on street traders of foreign currency has not yielded anything as the ZiG continues on a free-fall.
