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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Sunrise II - Index of articles and reports on Gono's attempt to change the currency in 2007
Banks
ordered to open all weekend as banks run out of new notes
Tererai Karimakwenda, SW Radio Africa
December 21, 2007
http://allafrica.com/stories/200712210974.html
The
new denominations of currency introduced by the Reserve Bank (RBZ)
on Thursday began to circulate Friday morning and long queues appeared
again at banks in the capital. Our Harare correspondent Simon Muchemwa
made the rounds to monitor progress and reported that most banks
had run out of the new notes by 11:00 Friday morning.
Muchemwa said
bank managers announced that a second batch was expected to be delivered
in the afternoon. But as of 5:30 P.M. no money had arrived. Stressed
out managers told those who were still hanging around that the banks
had received a directive from the RBZ to remain open all weekend
and on Monday, in order to make sure people got money for the holidays.
Muchemwa laughed at what he described as the usual mismanagement
by the RBZ, for having failed to deliver enough money on time.
Our correspondent
said there has been a lot of panic buying by those who had bundles
of money outside the formal banking system. Electronic appliances
are the popular item. Because they are expensive they allow the
buyer to use up their old Z$200,000 bearers' cheques that are due
to expire December 31st.
Muchemwa observed
that many items such as DVD players and televisions had increased
in price drastically overnight. He said a television that cost Z$100
million on Thursday had been raised to Z$124 million by Friday.
He believes some businesses are taking advantage of the December
31st deadline.
Higher denominations
of local currency were introduced by the RBZ in an attempt to address
the cash shortages that have gripped the nation. The new denominations
are Z$250,000, Z$500,000 and Z$750,000. Experts have said the new
notes may solve the problem of cash shortages for now, but with
the unofficial inflation rate estimated to be close to 100,000%,
cash shortages will return very soon.
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