ZIMBABWE: Should Get Its Own Currency Advises US Govt

The United States of America has encouraged Zimbabwe to get its own own currency so that it can stop relying on the United States Dollar. The US government said that having its own currency will allow Zimbabwe to control its own finances and to be dependant on outside countries. The Us also indicated that it was willing to work with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s new Administration.
Speaking to the weekly print publication, The Independent, Acting Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Don Yamamoto said:

As you know, the United States and other countries do have sanctions on Zimbabwe. Even though we have provided US$220 million this year in assistance levels it’s going to commo=unity based groups. What we want to do is we want to open and expand this opportunity because again, you know, Zimbabwe was an economic great country in the past, it was the breadbasket of the south.
Today it imports food, its financial institutions are not in great shape. They have to go to the US dollar. That’s good and bad. I mean it stabilises, but it’s bad because Zimbabwe should have control of its own finances. It shouldn’t be dependant on the United States or outside. And those are some of the reforms that we recognise need to be done immediately in short term.

This news is likely to be welcomed by President Emmerson  Mnangagwa’s government which has been saying that Zimbabwe needs to reintroduce its own currency in order to control its own monetary policy. Zimbabwe dumped its own currency in 2009 after the Zimbabwe Dollar became virtually useless after being ravaged by hyperinflation. The government then introduced a multicurrency system in which most currencies can be used, but the United States dollar proved to be the overwhelmingly popular choice and has become the defacto currency in use.