Zimbabwe’s central bank has said it will start issuing gold coins as legal tender in late July, as the country battles to control soaring inflation that has considerably weakened the local currency.
According to the apex bank, the gold coin is named ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’, after Victoria Falls, and can be converted into cash.
The latest measure comes as the country’s inflation rate more than doubled last month to 191%, bringing back memories of the hyperinflation of the 2000s that saw the Zimbabwean dollar redenominated three times. The local currency would later be abandoned in 2009.
Governor of the central bank, John Mangudya said in a statement that “the gold coins named ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’, after Victoria Falls, can be converted into cash, and will be available for sale to the public in both local currency, US dollars and other foreign currencies, at a price based on the prevailing international price of gold, and the cost production”.