Shops only accepting US dollars on Tuesday marked the tumultuous beginning of Zimbabwe’s new gold-backed currency, while angry citizens waited in line outside banks for hours to access their money.
Just a few days after it was declared that the Zimbabwean dollar, whose value had fallen dramatically over the previous year and driven inflation through the roof, would be replaced by the Zimbabwe Gold, or ZiG for short, would go into official trading on Monday.
However, many people in the nation weren’t prepared for the change.
As they tried to move their systems to ZiG, the majority of banks had their systems unavailable on Tuesday.
As a result, hundreds of individuals in the city of Harare had to wait in huge lines for hours in order to access or withdraw cash from certain branches.
One irate account holder told AFP, “I spent the entire morning… waiting for the bank to be back online.”
“No accomplishment. adrift. They claim they are unsure of when they will return to the internet.”
– Worthless in an instant
Old banknotes, which were already low in value, suddenly lost all of their value due to the currency exchange.
Children clutching wads of cash played in the streets of Kambuzuma, a suburb of Harare.
Other notes were left on the central business district’s pavements, and nobody came to retrieve them.
It was Hard to Get Hold of New Ones
The central bank announced on Saturday that they would only be ready on April 30 and were still in the printing process.
Public transportation providers in Harare refused to take Zimbabwean dollars, leaving some passengers stranded and imposing an expensive flat rate of $1, which is double the typical amount paid in local currency for short trips.
“We are being undervalued,” commuter George Goliati said.
Due to a lack of currency, many shops and street sellers also only accepted US dollars and offered candy or biscuits as change.
A capital shopkeeper named Julius Muza told AFP he had stopped taking Zimbabwean dollars after he saw people scurrying to his and other stores to “dump” the old bills.
The central bank is hoping the ZiG, which is supported by a basket of reserves made up of gold and other precious metals, can help stabilize the long-collapsing economy.
Over the past year, the value of the Zimbabwean dollar relative to the US dollar has decreased by about 100%, which has resulted in extremely high inflation, which in March was still at 55% despite having risen far into the triple digits.
The 16 million people of Zimbabwe already experience widespread poverty, significant unemployment, and a terrible drought brought on by the El Nino weather pattern. Soaring prices have added to their already dire circumstances.
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