By Reuters

HARARE: Zimbabwe’s government will maintain its multi-currency system, anchored by the U.S. dollar, to 2030, it said on Friday.

The government had previously said that the multi-currency system would end in 2025. This had triggered uncertainty in the banking sector, with some banks refusing to give loans past 2025.

In a government gazette, President Emmerson Mnangagwa repealed the 2019 order which had given 2025 as a deadline.

“The provisions of the Schedule, in so far as they expressly or impliedly permit the settlement of any transaction or the payment for goods and services in foreign currency, shall, notwithstanding Statutory Instrument 142 of 2019, be valid until the 31st December 2030,” reads the gazette.

“Settlement of any transaction or payment for goods and services in foreign currency, shall … be valid until the 31st December, 2030.”

Economists say nearly 80% of local transactions are in U.S. dollars amid waning confidence in the Zimbabwean dollar.

Zimbabwe abandoned its inflation-ravaged dollar in 2009, opting instead to use foreign currencies, mostly the U.S. dollar. The government reintroduced the local currency in 2019, but it rapidly lost value again.

Despite repeated efforts by authorities to boost confidence, the Zimdollar has weakened by over 80% this year, according to economists.