“Zimbabwe has launched gold coins to be sold to the public in a bid to tame runaway inflation that has further eroded the country’s unstable currency. The unprecedented move was announced Monday by the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, to boost confidence in the local currency. Trust in Zimbabwe’s currency is low after people saw their savings wiped out by hyperinflation in 2008 that reached $5 billion US, according to the International Monetary Fund. With strong memories of that disastrous inflation, many Zimbabweans today prefer to scramble on the illegal market for scarce U.S. dollars to keep at home as savings or for daily transactions. Faith in Zimbabwe’s currency is already so low that many retailers don’t accept it. The central bank disbursed 2,000 coins to commercial banks on Monday. The first batch was minted outside the country but eventually they will be produced locally, according to the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, John Mangudya.”

“BancABC Zimbabwe announced the launch of a new suite of co-branded Mastercard and Zimswitch payment cards, enabling its customers to make safe and seamless digital, domestic and international payments including e-commerce transactions. BancABC is the first bank to launch Mastercard and Zimswitch co-branded cards, following a partnership between the national payment switch and the global payment technology company announced last year .”

“Zimbabwe has made digital advancements, including a revolution in mobile money which has resulted in about 7.67 million mobile wallet holders in a country of 14.5 million people, according to a new Zimbabwe Digital Economy Diagnostic report launched by the World Bank Thursday. This puts Zimbabwe among the leaders on the African continent in the use of mobile money. According to the report, the first-ever in the country, Zimbabwe has a relatively well-developed digital payment system, where 96 percent of all transactions in the country’s formal sector are conducted through digital means and only 4 percent are cash-based, with the government using digital money almost exclusively.”

“Zimbabwe could become one of Africa’s early adopters of full interoperability in the mobile money sector if the government is to have its way. President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s new administration is switching its focus to digital payment alternatives as the cash and liquidity shortages that have bedeviled the country for the last few years continue. The economy had been in tailspin for the last few years of former president Robert Mugabe, who was forced out in November.”