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The dollar is the currency of Zimbabwe. It is subdivided into 100 cents. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively Z$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies.
[edit] History[edit] First dollarThe first Zimbabwean dollar was introduced in 1980 and replaced the Rhodesian dollar at par. The present ISO 4217 code was ZWD. At the time of its introduction, the Zimbabwean dollar was still worth more than the U.S. dollar, with ZWD 0.68 = USD 1.00. However, the currency's value eroded rapidly over the years. On 26 July 2006, the parallel market value of the Z-dollar fell to one million to the British pound. [7] [edit] Second dollarIn October 2005, the head of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Dr. Gideon Gono, announced "Zimbabwe will have a new currency next year." New banknotes and coins were to replace the then current Zimbabwean dollar. Gono did not provide a name for this new currency. In June 2006, Deputy Finance Minister David Chapfika stated that Zimbabwe had to achieve macroeconomic stability (i.e., double digit inflation) before any new currency was introduced. The dollar was redenominated on 1 August 2006 at the rate of 1 revalued dollar = 1000 old dollars. The new dollar is subdivided into 100 cents although, in practice, cents are not used. Together with the redenomination, the government devalued the dollar by 60% vs. the US dollar (see exchange rate history table below), from 101,000 old dollars (101 revalued) to 250 revalued dollars. ISO originally assigned a new currency code of ZWN to this redenominated currency, but the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe could not deal with a currency change. Therefore the currency code remains 'ZWD' [8]. The revaluation campaign, which Gideon Gono named "Operation Sunrise" was completed on 21 August 2006. It was estimated that some ten trillion old Zimbabwe dollars (22% of the money supply) were not redeemed during this period. [9] On 12 December 2006, Dr. Gono hinted in a memorandum to banks and other financial institutions that he would lay out the next phase of his monetary reforms dubbed Project Sunrise Two when he announces the monetary policy review statement in January 2007. It was not possible to get immediate confirmation from Gono's office whether the memorandum was advice to banks that he would be launching the new currency in January. But the chief executive officer of one of the country's largest banks said industry players had understood the governor's memo to mean new money would be introduced next month. [10] A possible name appears to be "ivhu", which means "soil" in Shona [11]. On 2 February 2007, it was revealed that a new (third) dollar would be released "soon" and gave some details of the new banknotes (see below). However, given that inflation remains in four digits, these banknotes are likely to remain in storage for the foreseeable future. In February 2007, the central bank of Zimbabwe declared inflation "illegal", outlawing any raise in prices on certain commodities between 1 March and 30 June 2007. Officials have arrested executives of some Zimbabwean companies for increasing prices on their products. Economists generally suspect that such measures will be ineffective at eliminating the problem in the long term [12] [13]. On 15 June 2007, economist Eddie Cross reported that "There is talk that the Reserve Bank will cut another three zeros off our currency next week and this would mean that one Zimbabwe dollar would now equal one million of the "old" dollars. Chaos reigns in commerce and industry and those in the public sector are frantic." [14] On 6 September 2007 the Zimbabwe dollar was devalued by 11,900%, to give an official exchange rate of ZW$30,000 to US$1, although the black market exchange rate was estimated to be ZW$600,000 to US$1. [15] On 1 July 2008 ,according to Reserve Bank officials, who spoke to the Zimbabwe Times on condition of anonymity, the bank had engaged an accounting firm which has drafted a solution to the ever increasing number of zeros in Zimbabwe’s currency. “The issue of digits is the prerogative of the governor and about six zero’s will be removed from the currency,” the official said. [edit] Inflation
Rampant inflation and the collapse of the economy have severely devalued the currency, with many organizations using the US dollar, the euro, the pound sterling, or the South African rand instead. Early in the 21st century, Zimbabwe started to experience hyperinflation. Inflation reached 624% in early 2004, then fell back to low triple digits before surging to 1,281.1% in December 2006 [16]. Inflation reached another record high of 3714% (year-on-year) in April 2007 [17]. The monthly rate for April 2007 exceeded 100%, implying that inflation may soon exceed all forecasts, as 100% monthly inflation over sustained 12 months would produce annual inflation of over 400,000%. Mid year inflation for 2007 has been breaching records as inflation for May 2007 was estimated at 4,530% (year-on-year) [18]. On 21 June 2007, the U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, told the Guardian newspaper that inflation could reach 1.5 million per cent by the end of the year. The current unofficial inflation rate is above 11,000%, and the black-market exchange rate is Z$400,000 to the pound. [3] On 13 July 2007, the Zimbabwean government said it had temporarily stopped publishing (official) inflation figures, a move that observers said was meant to draw attention away from runaway inflation which has come to symbolise the country's unprecedented economic meltdown. [4] On 27 July 2007, the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) said its recent calculations for the monthly expenditure for an urban family of six showed that inflation for the month of June was more than 13,000%. The Central Statistical Office (CSO), the official source of Consumer Price Index numbers, had not released its figures since February (2007) when it reported annual inflation at 1,729%. [5] In September 2007, the Central Statistical Office announced an official inflation rate of 6,592.8% for August 2007. [6] Private estimates are as high as 20,000%.[7] In October 2007, they announced an official inflation rate of 7,892.1% for September 2007. [8] In November 2007, they announced an official inflation rate of 14,840.5% for October 2007. [9] [edit] HyperinflationOn 27 November 2007, the chief statistician of the Central Statistical Office, Moffat Nyoni, announced that it would be impossible to calculate the inflation rate of the dollar any further. This was due to the lack of availability of basic goods, and subsequent lack of information from which to calculate the inflation rate. The International Monetary Fund has stated that inflation is predicted to rise to 100,000% per annum. [10] On 14 February 2008, the Central Statistical Office announced that the inflation rate for December 2007 was 66,212.3%, and the unofficial exchange rate was Z$7.1 million to the US$1.[11] On 20 February 2008, the Central Statistical Office said that officially, inflation has in January 2008 gone past the 100,000% mark to 100,580.2% . [12] On 4 April 2008, the Financial Gazette (FinGaz) reported that officially, inflation in February 2008 jumped to 164,900.3% . [13] On 15 May 2008, the Zimbabwe Independent reported that officially, inflation in March 2008 jumped to 355,000% . [14] On 21 May 2008, SW Radio Africa reported that, according to an independent financial assessment inflation in May 2008 jumped to 1,063,572.6% . The state statistical service has said there are not enough goods in the shortage-stricken shops to calculate any new (official) figures. [15] On 26 June 2008, the Zim Independent reported that, latest figures from the Central Statistical Offices (CSO) showed that annual inflation rose by 7,336,000 percentage points to 9,030,000% by June 20 and was set to end the month at well above 10,500,000%. [16] [edit] Money supply (2006-2008)On 16 February 2006, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Gideon Gono, announced that the government had printed ZWD 20.5 trillion in order to buy foreign currency to pay off IMF arrears. [19] In early May 2006, Zimbabwe's government announced that they would produce another 60 trillion Zimbabwean dollars [20]. The additional currency was required to finance the recent 300% salary increase for soldiers and policemen and 200% increase for other civil servants. The money was not budgeted for the current fiscal year, and the government did not say where it would come from. On 29 May, Reserve Bank officials told IRIN that plans to print about Zim$60 trillion (about US$592.9 million at official rates) were briefly delayed after the government failed to secure foreign currency to buy ink and special paper for printing money. In late August 2006, it was reported that about ten trillion old dollars (22% of the money supply) had not been exchanged for revalued dollars. These bearer cheques were demonetized. On 27 June 2007, it was announced that central bank governor Gideon Gono had been ordered by President Robert Mugabe to print an additional $1 trillion to cater for civil servants' and soldiers' salaries that were hiked by 600% and 900% respectively. [21] On 28 July 2007, it was reported that Mugabe has said that Zimbabwe will go on printing money if there isn't enough for underfunded municipal projects. [22] On 30 August 2007 it was reported that an additional ZWD 3 trillion had been printed to pay for 500,000 scotch carts and 800,000 ox-drawn ploughs plus an unspecified number of cattle. [23] On 3 September 2007 it was reported that that the black market in Zimbabwe is once again booming despite price controls. People who previously were employed for a paltry $11 (ZW$2 Million) a month are now able to turn as much as $166 (ZW$30 Million) just through black market trading. [24] On 24 November 2007 it was reported that money supply was now $58 trillion revalued Zimbabwean dollars (ZWD) [25]. ($41 million US at parallel rates) However, Zimbabwe banks could only account for $1 to $2 trillion of those dollars, meaning that members of the public were holding $56 to $57 trillion in cash. On 4 January 2008 it was reported that money supply had been increased by $33 trillion (to $100 trillion) [26] revalued Zimbabwean dollars (ZWD) [27] Further, the demonetization of the $200,000 bearer cheques was put on hold, thus increasing the money supply. The planned issue of additional banknotes (denominations of ZWD 1, 5, and 10 Million) on 18 January 2008 will increase the money supply by an unknown amount. On 21 January 2008 it was reported, by Gideon Gono, that the money supply had been increased to $170 trillion since mid December. Further, Gono expected it to reach $800 Trillion by 28 January 2008. [28] On 01 March 2008, it was reported that documents obtained by The Sunday Times show the Munich company Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) was receiving more than €500,000 (£382,000) a week for delivering bank notes at the astonishing rate of Z$170 trillion a week. “The regime is surviving by printing money,” said Martin Rupiya, professor of war and security studies at the University of Zimbabwe. “At this stage there is no other way.” According to a source at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, G&D was delivering 432,000 sheets of banknotes every week to Fidelity printers in Harare, where they were stamped with the denomination. Each sheet contains 40 notes and the current production is entirely in Z$10m notes. [29] On July 1st, 2008 Giesecke & Devrient decided they would no longer print bank notes for Zimbabwe, bowing to pressure from the German government. [30]
[edit] CoinsIn 1980, coins were introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents and 1 dollar. The 1 cent coin was struck in bronze, with the others struck in cupro-nickel. In 1989, bronze-plated steel replaced bronze. A 2 dollar coin was introduced in 1997. In 2001, nickel-plated steel replaced cupro-nickel in the 10, 20 and 50 cents and 1 dollar, and a bimetallic 5 dollar coin was introduced. These coins [31] remain legal tender but, due to their minuscule value, they only function as gambling tokens in Zimbabwean casinos. Plans by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, for new Z$5,000 and Z$10,000 coins were announced in June 2005 [32]. However, the coins never appeared. [edit] Banknotes, traveller's cheques and bearer cheques[edit] First dollar
In 1980, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe introduced notes in denominations of 2, 5, 10 and 20 dollars. 50 dollar notes were introduced in 1994, followed by 100 dollars in 1995, 500 dollars in 2001 and 1000 dollars in 2003. In 2003, with mounting inflation, the Reserve Bank started issuing travelers cheques in denominations of 1000, 5000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000 dollars. These were superseded later the same year by bearer cheques, initially in denominations of 5,000, 10,000 and 20,000 dollars, with cheques for 50,000 and 100,000 dollars following in 2006. [edit] Second dollarOn 1 August 2006, the new currency was introduced, with bearer cheques in denominations of 1, 5, 10 and 50 cents, 1, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 10,000 and 100,000 dollars. There is also a 5 dollar denomination although the note does not appear on any of the Reserve Bank advertisements. Bearer cheques of 5,000 dollars (dated 01 February 2007) and 50,000 (dated 01 March 2007) were issued in March 2007. Bearer cheques of 200,000 (dated 01 August 2007) were issued in August 2007. On 14 November 2007, it was reported that the RBZ was planning to issue more bearer cheques in denominations of 500,000 and 1 million revalued Zimbabwe dollars. These were expected to be issued in December 2007. Bearer cheques denominated below ZWD 10,000 are to be discontinued. [33] On December 19, 2007, it was reported by Gideon Gono, that new bearer cheques (Z$250,000 ; Z$500,000 ; and Z$750,000) had been produced, and would be released on December 20, 2007. In addition, the current high value bearer cheques (Z$200,000) would be demonetized as of January 01, 2008. [34] However, due to ongoing problems, plans to demonetize this note were put on hold at the end of December. Less than a month after announcing a similar move, Gideon Gono said the new notes would provide much needed relief to consumers who often have to go shopping with sacks of cash. On January 16, 2008 it was reported to a press conference that "With effect from Friday (January 18), the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is releasing the following bearer cheques into circulation: one million dollars (officially worth about US$33/22 euros but worth about 50c at the parallel rate), five million dollars and 10 million dollars," by Reserve Bank Governor Gono. "Further to provide relief and convenience to the transacting public, daily cash withdrawals have been increased from the current Z$50 million to Z$500 million per individual. This takes effect from Friday," he said. On 4 April 2008 it was reported by the Zim Independent and Zim Online that twenty five million dollar and fifty million dollar bearer cheque was being issued as of 4 April. The RBZ also increased the maximum withdrawal limit for individuals to $5 billion a day. [35] [36] [37] On May 05, 2008 it was announced that one hundred million dollar and two hundred and fifty million dollar bearer cheques were to be issued as of May 06. It was also announced that the official exchange rate was to be floated. [17] On May 15, 2008 it was announced that five hundred million dollar bearer cheques were to be issued as of May 20. It was also announced that agro cheques in the amounts of 5, 25, and 50 Billion dollars would be issued on the same day. All of these will be dated to expire at the end of 2008. [edit] Proposed third dollarSince the Zimbabwean dollar was revalued in August 2006, there have been repeated discussions and proposals regarding a further revaluation. As early as the beginning of 2007 it appeared that a revaluation was planned with new banknote designs being commissioned[18]. However, nothing came of these plans. New plans were announced in October 2007[19] and initially postponed until 2008 before, in November 2007, the revaluation was described as "imminent"[20] and would remove as many as four zeros from the currency and would be called Sunrise 2[21][22]. However, on December 18, 2007, it was reported that a further printing of the current Z$200,000 bearer cheques had been produced, seemingly instead of revaluing[23]. Further new issues of bearer cheques have since taken place. There appears to be no current plan for a revaluation in the near future. [edit] Exchange rate historyThis table shows a condensed history of the foreign exchange rate:
Note: Due to the Dec. 2007 banknote shortage, funds transferred via Electronic Funds Transfer Systems (EFTS) bore a premium rate of about $4 million, while the cash transaction rate varied around $2 million. This table shows in more detail the historical value of one U.S. dollar in Zimbabwean dollars:
[edit] Restoration of market data feedsIn the final months before Zimbabwe's central bank reforms of April 30th, 2008, virtually all popular currency conversion resources relied upon the official rate of 30,000 ZWD to 1 USD for published figures, in spite of the vast differences between that and free market rates. By May 23rd, 2008, Bloomberg [134] and Oanda [135] began publishing floating rates based on Zimbabwe's formally regulated domestic bank market, while on the other hand, Yahoo Finance is still sticking to the old 1:30,000 exchange rate as of June 12th. (On June 26th, Bloomberg, Yahoo and Oanda were shifting displayed decimal point placement by 4, 6 and 6 places respectively.) Those floating rates may still differ substantially from less regulated markets such as offshore markets or paper cash freely traded on the streets of Harare. The primary drivers of that distortion may be cash shortages [136] or the various limits on state sanctioned forex transactions, which for private parties, must be handled via transfer instead of in cash for values beyond $150 USD. [137] [edit] See also
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