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Jun 26, 2009, 10:11 GMT

Mugabe wants to reintroduce Zimbabwe dollar

Harare - President Robert Mugabe wants to reintroduce the Zimbabwe dollar, which was taken out of circulation four months ago after it lost nearly all its value, according to state media Friday. The US dollar and the South African rand were declared legal tender in February shortly after the country's coalition government was formed and prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai's former opposition Movement for Democratic Change took charge of the finance ministry. At the time, it took about 50 trillion Zimbabwe dollars to make one US dollar and the inflation rate was being estimated in world-record, 15-digit figures. The situation was blamed on the Mugabe-loyal central bank's policy of printing money to satiate government and ruling party spending. On Friday, the state-controlled daily Herald quoted Mugabe as admitting that the introduction of hard currencies had lowered prices, but adding that it had caused 'untold suffering' in areas, where people were had no access to US dollar bills. People in rural areas were forced to trade with their livestock instead of money, he said. 'We can't have a country like that,' he said. 'We are considering going back to our own currency. People must get money. If they don't, what are they going to buy with?' His remarks contradicted a statement by economic planning minister Elton Mangoma in London the same day when he told British mining company executives that there were no plans to return to the Zimbabwe dollar, and that the government was relying on the US dollar to help revive investor confidence.

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