Carte Blanche with Perry

Notaphilists – people who study or collect paper money – are likely salivating and dusting their collections of Zimbabwe`s bank notes, as they prepare to add to their collections, yet another series of notes as the country`s uneasy relationship with its currency continues. The RBZ has announced a new series of ZWL$10 and ZWL$20 notes to start circulating in the economy, starting with the ZWL$10 note already in circulation, and the ZWL$20 note to come in the first week of June. Not only that, it has also announced the upward revision of withdrawal limits from ZWL$300 to ZWL$1,000 per week. Not that it is unclear to anyone, this revision in withdrawal limits to some measure portends the growing trouble the economy is facing. Hyperinflation. This then begs the question, why not just go for the jugular and issue say a ZWL$50 and a ZWL$100 note? Introduction into Circulation of $10 and $20 Dollar Banknotes pic.twitter.com/sv4kjDFtOa — Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (@ReserveBankZIM) May 15, 20

Image Credit - Nomad Africa Exactly 30 days from the date a harried Mthuli Ncube wrote to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) pleading for debt relief and financial assistance to help Zimbabwe`s fight against Covid-19, the finance minister put out a series of tweets announcing a major government policy. Mr Ncube announced plans to launch the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX) to trade in “hard currency” – read United States dollars. In his own words, the VFEX is aimed at “foreign investors and global capital, especially (sic) mining sector.” That such a major policy development was announced at 7:06pm, on a Saturday evening, is perhaps meant to signal to the global market, and indeed the whole country, that the Zimbabwean authorities are hard at work to repair the economy. The said economy, by Ncube`s own admission in the leaked IMF letter, is set to contract by anything from 15-20% this year, under the weight of the Covid-19 pandemic. $18 Billion Economic Stimulus