OK, the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe somehow still insist that Zimbabwe ‘has de-dollarised.’ They say the fact that you can pay for stuff in USD and that shops are required to list prices in USD alongside local currency is actually part of de-dollarisation. We don’t know what that’s about especially now with what Standard Charted Bank Zimbabwe is saying.
USD cash at ATMs
According to communication to customers from the bank’s Head of Retail Banking, Lucas Chirume, selected Standard Chartered Bank ATMs will dispense both local currency and United States Dollar notes. He of course adds that this is subject to availability of cash.
Here’s where to locate Standard Chartered Bank ATMs.
More USD than Zim Dollar
Interestingly, the withdrawal limit for USD is USD1 000 per day while limit for local currency withdrawal is ZW$1 000 per week!
This means you can withdraw up to USD7 000 per week but only ZW$1 000 which is equivalent to about USD10 or slightly more depending on the rate you use.
This is quite odd. I suppose this artificial scarcity of the local currency is what’s maintaining some semblance of stability of the currency in the past few weeks. The hope is that if hard currency cash starts to be perceived to be readily available it will ease people’s tendency to hoard it. Our need to hoard cash makes the exchange rate situation volatile.
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