Zimbabwe to print own version of U.S. dollar

Zimbabwe is set to print its own version of the United States (U.S.) dollar in order to ease a cash shortage in the country.

Central Bank Governor, John Mangudya, said the cash, known as bond notes, will be backed by $200m (£140m) support from the Africa Export-Import Bank.

The specially-designed two, five, 10 and 20 dollar notes will have the same value as their U.S. dollar equivalents.

Zimbabwe introduced the U.S. dollar after ditching its own currency in 2009 following sustained hyper-inflation.

Since then Zimbabweans have been using the dollar, as well as a number of other foreign currencies including the South African rand and the Chinese yuan.

But the BBC in the capital, Harare, say that bank customers are not always able to withdraw the amount of U.S. dollars they want because of a shortage of dollar notes in Zimbabwe.

The governor stressed that the issuing of bond notes was not the first step on the way to reintroducing the defunct currency, the Zimbabwe Herald newspaper reports.

Mr. Mangudya also introduced a number of other measures to steer people away from using U.S. dollar cash.

This includes setting a $1,000 limit on how much cash can be taken out of the country.

He wants to encourage people to make greater use of the rand since a large portion of Zimbabwe’s trade is with South Africa.

But it was reported that people are reluctant to hold rands, as they are not confident that the currency will maintain its value against the dollar.