Zimbabwe May Build its Reserves to Back Currency Relaunch

Country would build gold and diamond reserves, Mnangagwa says
Zimbabwe dollar was abolished in 2009 after hyperinflation

One kilogram bars of gold sit on a table at the Sharps Pixley Ltd. showroom in this arranged photograph in London, U.K., on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018. Amid the wild Bitcoin ride that’s wiped more than 40 percent off the cryptocurrency's price in a month, a pattern may be emerging: sellers are switching out of digital gold and into the real thing.Photographer: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg

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By Antony Sguazzin and Godfrey Marawanyika

January 23, 2018 at 9:00 AM UTC

Updated on

January 23, 2018 at 2:51 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Zimbabwe’s new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, said his government is considering building reserves of gold and diamonds to back the eventual relaunch of the country’s own currency.

The nation abandoned the Zimbabwe dollar in February 2009 after an economic collapse saw inflation surge to about 500 billion percent, according to the International Monetary Fund, after exports slumped and international lenders had withdrawn lines of credit. This resulted in the central bank printing banknotes with a face value of 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollars.