Zimbabwe Banks Take Delivery Of New Bank Notes Following Redenomination

By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
03 February 2009

New bank notes promised by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe should be available in banks on Wednesday, financial institution sources in Harare said Tuesday.

The new notes were not in circulation Tuesday, Harare sources said, but one bank officer in a Harare institution said managers had just picked up a shipment of the new notes.

An official at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the RBZ had to record the serial numbers of the notes issued to individual banks.

RBZ Governor Gideon Gono announced on Tuesday in the course of his quarterly monetary statement that the redenomination involving the removal of 12 zeroes from the national currency and the issuance of new bills would be “with immediate effect.”

Gono also said companies holding licenses to conduct their business in foreign exchange were now authorized to pay their employees in hard currencies.

Economist Luxon Zembe told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe it was unfortunate the Reserve Bank announced its new monetary measures without being fully prepared to roll out the new currency immediately, causing confusion.