Zimbabwe’s ZiG Currency: How Does It Work, and Can It Last?

Zimbabwe’s gold-backed currency, the ZiG, is already suffering from the same lack of credibility that doomed its predecessors.

Short for Zimbabwe Gold, the ZiG replaced the Zimbabwean dollar in April 2024 and is the nation’s sixth attempt since 2009 at creating a local unit that can supersede the greenback in domestic transactions. But it’s been dogged by similar obstacles that have kept Zimbabwe locked out of international capital markets since it defaulted on $21 billion of debt in 1999.