Deputy Minister for Finance, Clemence Chiduwa said in Parliament that the Zim dollar (ZWL$) is accepted regionally and internationally according to a report by OpenParly.
The issue of the convertibility and regional or international acceptance of our currency as we speak now, the Zimbabwean Dollar is accepted regionally and internationally through the exchange rate. Not every currency is convertible. We are looking at currencies like the United States Dollar, the Euro, the Chinese and all that.
Not every currency can be accepted in every country. Every country has its own currency and that is what is being used locally. When you want to do international and regional transactions, then you go to your bank and convert to the accepted currency in that destination.
When using the exchange rate, it means our currency can be used locally and regionally via the exchange rate. There is no need for us to come up with a policy position to say we would want our currency to be used in the US. We use the exchange rate.
In reposonse to Chitungwiza-North Representative Godfrey Sithole’s question on the matter.
I don’t know about you but that isn’t the clearest answer. It looks like if you want to do international transactions or travel you’ll still have to change the local currency in Zimbabwe before you set off. The Deputy Minister also didn’t state which countries are accepting the Zim dollar.
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Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said that the government had a budget surplus of ZWL$9.8 billion in Q1 2021. Now, that’s just over US$100 million (by the RBZ auction rate) and that’s a lot of money. So we discussed what a budget surplus is, if it is a good or bad thing in the Zimbabwean context, and how the government could possibly use all that money.
What’s your take?