Chris Muronzi

Zimbabweans will no longer be able to pay for goods and services in US dollars or other foreign currencies after a government decree issued this week outlawed the use of foreign currencies in local transactions.

When Zimbabwe’s central bank chief John Mangudya announced his monetary policy last week, the majority of Zimbabweans did not expect major policy interventions and shocks.

With the ink barely dry on a failed surrogate bond note currency, Zimbabwe’s central bank is mulling running the printing press yet again for a new unit before the end of the financial year as US dollars disappear from circulation, prices rise fast and the economy stutters to a halt.