South African finance minister backs new Zimbabwean currency

HARARE, JAN 18 — South Africa’s Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said yesterday that Zimbabwe is in a good position to adopt a new currency and South Africa would support its northern neighbor’s efforts towards economic revival.

“I think the idea of using a new currency in Zimbabwe is a good one,” Mboweni was quoted as saying by African News Agency as he addressed journalists ahead of his trip to Davos, Switzerland, for the annual World Economic Forum (WEF).

Mboweni said the use of the U.S. dollar was untenable given that Zimbabwe was under sanctions, whose removal he said was central to the country’s economic recovery.

He revealed that South African National Treasury director-general and the Reserve Bank governor, had met with their Zimbabwean counterparts in December and had a conversation about the status of the Zimbabwean economy, the finance and banking systems, the attempts to reignite the economic health of Zimbabwe.

The two sides reaffirmed their mutual commitment to working together to assist Zimbabwe, Mboweni said.
Zimbabwean finance and economic development minister Mthuli Ncube said last week that the country will have its own currency within the next 12 months, as government is frantically working on raising enough foreign currency to anchor it.

Addressing delegates at a “Road to Davos” townhall meeting in Harare, Ncube said adopting the U.S. dollar or the South African rand would not solve the country’s macroeconomic problems.
“On the issue of raising enough foreign currency to introduce the new currency, we are on our way already, give us months, not years,” he said.

Asked to give a timeline on when currency reforms would be implemented, Ncube said it would be done “in less than 12 months.” – XINHUA