By ETimes
Gold coins have mopped up $13.6 billion from the market since their introduction in July this year, the latest data shows.
The country took the unprecedented step of introducing gold coins as legal tender after inflation spiked from 191% in June to 257% in July this year.
As of November 22, 2022, a total of 14, 000 gold coins had been sold.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Innocent Matshe told a post-budget review seminar that 90% of the gold coins were bought by corporates and the balance, 10%, by individuals.
“Gold coins mopped up $13.6 billion since their launch in July 2022,” he said.
“The tight monetary policy stance is buttressed by the favourable uptake of gold coins as an alternative.”
The gold coins are minted by the RBZ-owned Fidelity Printers, the sole buyer of gold in the country. Their price is determined by the international market rate for an ounce of gold, plus five per cent for the cost of producing the coin.
The gold coins were introduced on 25 July as part of several policy measures to ease demand for the greenback, stabilise the Zimbabwe dollar exchange rate and tame resurgent inflation.
In November this year, the apex bank introduced lower denomination gold coins to enable the participation of ordinary citizens – Harare
