CURRENCY CRUNCH

23rd February 2024

CURRENCY CRUNCH

Photo by: Bloomberg

Zimbabwe may back its currency with gold to end exchange-rate instability, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube announced earlier this month. “In order to manage growth of liquidity, we may link the exchange rate to a hard asset such as gold,” Ncube said in an online press briefing a week after President Emmerson Mnangagwa signalled that a revamp of the world’s worst-performing currency was under consideration. At the time of the announcement, the Zimbabwe dollar had slumped almost 50% against the US dollar this year after plunging 90% in 2023. Photograph: Bloomberg