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Sunrise 2: Rollout begins
Shame Makoshori, Financial Gazette
November 29, 2007

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has begun deploying its officials across the country to spearhead the proposed change of the country's currency under the second phase of Operation Sunrise.

Surging inflation has forced the central bank to change and re-base the currency for the second time in 15 months.

Sources close to the currency programme said senior RBZ officials held meetings on Tuesday to finalise the deployment of staff into provinces. They said indications were that the new currency could be introduced during the first or second week of December, as hinted by a central bank order for depositors to bring in extra cash by Saturday.

But it was not clear if the new notes would be used concurrently with the existing bearer cheques during the changeover. The bearer cheques currently in issue were only introduced in August last year under Phase 1 of the currency reforms.

"Members of the advance teams will be deployed to the provinces where they come from," a source close to the developments said.

"Staff would be paid $1.5 billion for the operation. Officers could start moving to the provinces today (yesterday)."

"The new currency could come into circulation during the first or second December. But no dates have been given."

RBZ governor Gideon Gono said the bank had already secured approval from government legalising the currency switch.

An RBZ official said: "When we were re-basing the currency last year, we also had such a legal instrument. The instrument will be used to identify the name of the currency, the denomination range, when it will expire, or whether the RBZ will be allowed to co-use the old and the new currencies." Gono said last week he would launch the new currency as part of measures to deal with the parallel market activities he blamed for the current cash shortages.

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