{"id":48395,"date":"2024-05-12T08:00:08","date_gmt":"2024-05-12T08:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/new-currencys-shaky-start"},"modified":"2024-05-12T08:16:49","modified_gmt":"2024-05-12T08:16:49","slug":"new-currencys-shaky-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/new-currencys-shaky-start","title":{"rendered":"New currency\u2019s shaky start"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>The new currency continues to dominate discussion as the notes started circulating on Tuesday (April 30, 2024).<\/b><\/p>\n

Though the government is upbeat (not that they have much of a choice!) about this \u2018new era\u2019 in the country\u2019s economy, there are mixed feelings among the general populace, judging from the failed fortunes of our past currencies.<\/p>\n

Introduced early April, the ZiG (Zimbabwe Gold) is the country\u2019s sixth currency in two decades.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s hardly surprising many wonder if it will stand the test of time or it will be yet another failed currency in the not so distant future.<\/p>\n

According to the central bank, the new currency is backed by 2.5 tonnes of gold and $100million in foreign currency reserves.<\/p>\n

The state media went all out this week to promote the ZiG, which comes in both coins and notes, the highest denomination being 200.<\/p>\n

There have been coin challenges in the past, forcing people to accept tokens, pens and sweets as change after buying from retailers.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s early days yet but the ZiG is off to a worrying start. The business community still prefer to transact in the US dollar, charging their goods in the greenback and using the black market rate for the ZiG, in a bid to discourage its use.<\/p>\n

The official exchange rate is currently US$1 to Z$13.43, which by the way means that our ZiG is stronger than the Pula and the Rand!<\/p>\n

I wonder though if the banks in Botswana will accept my ZiG in exchange for Pulas on my next visit….that will be a story for another day but I suspect I already know the ending!<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, withdrawal limits have been set at Z$3, 000 and Z$30, 000 per week for individuals and companies respectively as the government tries to paralyze the black market.<\/p>\n

More than 60 suspected black market dealers, or money changers as they are commonly called, are in detention following a clampdown by the central\u2019s bank Finance Intelligence Unit.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen if the government will win in doing away with the black market considering that banks don\u2019t exchange the local currency for the US dollar.<\/p>\n

The trend has been that people withdraw their local currency and go to the streets to get the US dollars.<\/p>\n

Public transporters will also have a problem as passengers will most likely pay their fares in ZiG yet the currency does not buy fuel.<\/p>\n

The Central Bank has said fuel will be sold in forex until further notice as the commodity is also sourced from outside using US dollars.<\/p>\n

The mostly likely scenario is that they will insist on payments in US dollars, which will set them on a collision course with the government.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. The new currency continues to dominate discussion as the notes started circulating on Tuesday (April 30, 2024). Though the government is upbeat (not that they have much of a choice!) about this \u2018new era\u2019 in the country\u2019s economy, there are mixed feelings among the general populace, judging from the failed fortunes of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":48394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-48395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nNew currency\u2019s shaky start - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The new currency continues to dominate discussion as the notes started circulating on Tuesday (April 30, 2024). ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/new-currencys-shaky-start\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New currency\u2019s shaky start\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The new currency continues to dominate discussion as the notes started circulating on Tuesday (April 30, 2024). ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/new-currencys-shaky-start\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-12T08:00:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-12T08:16:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/05\/sm_1715488997.319036.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/new-currencys-shaky-start#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/new-currencys-shaky-start\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"New currency\u2019s shaky start\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-12T08:00:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-12T08:16:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/new-currencys-shaky-start\"},\"wordCount\":467,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/new-currencys-shaky-start#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/05\/sm_1715488997.319036.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/new-currencys-shaky-start#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/new-currencys-shaky-start\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/new-currencys-shaky-start\",\"name\":\"New currency\u2019s shaky start - 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