Zimbabwe extends use of foreign currency until 2030

HARARE,

Oct. 28 (Xinhua)

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has extended the use of foreign currency in settling domestic transactions and payment of goods and services until December 2030.

Mnangagwa made the declaration in a Statutory Instrument gazetted Friday, which overrides an earlier regulation that had set 2025 as the deadline for the multi-currency system.

   "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," Mnangagwa said.

The 2025 deadline as well as recent official pronouncements on the impending return of the Zimbabwean dollar as the sole official currency, had brought uncertainty in the financial markets, leading many banks to suspend lending in foreign currency.

 According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, Zimbabwe's multiple currency system is anchored by the U.S. dollar and nearly 80 percent of local transactions are in U.S. dollars.