Harare, ZIMBABWE
Zimbabwe on Sunday reintroduced the use of
foreign currencies in local transactions ahead of the start of a nationwide
lockdown for 21 days from Monday to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
New
exchange control regulations making it legal for Zimbabweans to use electronic
and cash foreign currencies when buying local goods were also published.
“Any
person may pay for goods and services chargeable in Zimbabwe dollars in foreign
currency … at the ruling rate on the date of payment,” a notice by the
government read.
The
country’s central bank announced last week on Thursday that the use of foreign
currencies was one of the measures to ease the burden of the coronavirus
effects.
Last
year in June, Zimbabwe made its interim currency the country’s sole legal
tender bringing to an end a decade of dollarization.
Economic
analysts say the reintroduction of the use of foreign currencies will only
further weaken the Zimbabwe dollar.
Facing
its worst economic crisis in a decade, Zimbabwe is grappling with soaring
inflation and shortages of foreign currency and medicines that has crippled its
hospitals.
The
country’s public health sector is also in a crisis having been hit by a number
of strikes last year due to demands for better pay and working conditions.
Last
Wednesday, public hospital doctors opted to stay home over a lack of protective
gear even as some patients’ families were asked to provide such basics as
gloves and even clean water.
Zimbabwe
has so far registered seven cases of the deadly virus with one fatality, a
30-year-old man who had traveled abroad and had a pre-existing condition.
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