The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says a multi-currency Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) payment system will go live next month with three other currencies joining the platform.
BY BUSINESS REPORTER
In January, the central bank said it was working on configuring the RTGS system into a multi-currency one.
In an update on Wednesday, RBZ governor John Mangudya said the platform would have the South African rand, Euro and the coming bond currency in addition to complement the United States dollar that was already in use.
“The system will go live on June 13, 2016,” Mangudya said.
The new measure was part of efforts to remove the over reliance on the dollar, a move that has been blamed for the current cash shortages prevailing in the market.
Mangudya said the utilisation levels of the dollar had nearly doubled to the current 95% from the 49% in 2009.
Other currencies in the multi-currency basket had recorded low utilisation levels, thereby maximising the concentration risk of exerting pressure on the United States dollar.
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The multi-currency system was introduced in 2009 to stem hyperinflation, which had made the local currency, the Zimbabwean dollar, worthless. The Zimbabwean dollar was retired from the official system last year.
The multi-currency basket has the United States dollar, South African rand, Botswana pula, British pound and the Euro.
Four other currencies — India’s rupee, Australian dollar, Japanese yen and Chinese yuan — were added to the basket in 2014.
