HARARE, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) on Thursday said it had sold 31,866 gold coins in different denominations as of March 10, mopping up more than 25.8 billion Zimbabwean dollars and easing domestic inflationary pressures.
"The MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) noted with satisfaction that month-to-month inflation declined from 0.7 percent in January 2023 to -1.6 percent in February 2023 and 0.1 percent in March 2023. Annual inflation also declined from 101.5 percent in January 2023 to 92.3 percent in February 2023 and further down to 87.6 percent in March 2023," RBZ governor John Mangudya said in a press statement.
During a Tuesday meeting, "the MPC resolved to complement the current issuance of physical gold coins with gold-backed digital products," which "will allow gold coins to be widely traded and, in the process, expand tradeable assets in the economy for store-of-value purposes," Mangudya said.
In July 2022, the RBZ introduced the gold coins to halt the collapse of the Zimbabwean dollar and help ease demand for the U.S. dollar. Smaller, affordable units were released later in November.
The Zimbabwean economy has a dual currency structure composed of the Zimbabwean dollar and the U.S. dollar, with the use of the U.S. dollar currently dominant and constituting about 70 percent of domestic transactions. ■