It is indeed worrisome that some business people, shop owners and transport operators are not accepting bond coins from their clients citing a number of challenges that they think may affect them when they accept those coins.
It is high time these business people start accepting these bonded coins as they have value which is equivalent to the United State of American dollar. Unlike the South African rand which has a lower value than the USD, people should not be skeptical about these bond coins.
Bond coins are convenient for the public to transact easily, especially on the issue of divisibility of cash. Government’s efforts of introducing these coins is intended to ease change shortage problems that most customers face after purchasing groceries from shops, as well as pricing structures by dealers.
Zimbabwean economy is mainly dominated by the United States dollar, and South African rand for transactions, but businesses usually round-off prices and give consumers vouchers that would not be accepted in other shops or forcing them to accept bubble gums, sweets, pens, matches or trivialities as consolation of their cash because they lack minor denominations such as one cent or five cents.
Introduction of bond coins is a splendid solution to the monetary divisibility challenge which has been bedeviling Zimbabwe since 2009. These bond coins will also assist in the reduction of liquidity crunch.
Furthermore, use of bond coins will assist in restoring of correct pricing models of goods and services. It is of paramount importance that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe should continuously educate the public about these bond coins. In some rural areas people are not even aware of these bond coins and their value. Hence, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe should be encouraged to enlighten people across the nation about these coins.
However, business people should play a pivotal role in encouraging customers to accept these bond coins as they are a legal tender. Bond coins are used to buy locally, hence support the local industry as the money will be circulating locally. Coins have been there since the dawn of time, therefore these bond coins are equivalent to any other lawful currency which is currently in use in this country.
The government should enforce the universal usage of these bond coins. Honestly, bond coins should be considered as a statutory instrument that everyone should feel free to use. It is through people’s goodwill that these bond coins will buttress the multiple currency system through the provision of change especially for the US dollar notes.
The introduction of bond coins may likely assist in reducing prices of some basic products such as bread. The price of a loaf of bread has been pegged at one US dollar since the introduction of foreign currency. Most of the shop owners were citing lack of small change as the reason behind that price. However, recent reports from millers have it that the retailers were making obscene profits from that and called for a decline in the price of bread owing to the availability of smaller denominations on the market-place.
It is therefore imperative for every citizen person to accept and utilize bond coins as they are a lawful tender in Zimbabwe.
10 Replies to “Bond Coins Are Stronger than South African Rand”
Comments are closed.
Asingade anege asingade. kikikiki makusada ndoanondinetsa. I will use my tm, ok credit notes
Chiedza, These useless coins are being issued by an undercapitalized bank . RBZ is yet to pay exporters whose foreign currency was stolen during the burning era. Most of us, we are currently comfortable with ZAR coins. The central bank should have ordered ZAR coins from SA via road as opposed to air. These ZAR coins should have been distributed to various banks. The RBZ should then accept same from various banks as deposits and in case of excesses then repatriate the coins back to SA. It was going to be cheaper than these so called bond coins. We don’t want to go back to the time of Z$ traveller s cheques or bond Z$ notes. We need to work very very hard(All things being equal) as a country in order to bring back our Zim currency & not through the back door. The other reason why we are using coins is due to our local banks that are under capitalized like our central bank & as such we lack confidence in all these banks, hence minimum utilization of plastic money. The mobile money transfer is exorbitant to say the least. Such transactions of the mobile phone companies are subject to scrutiny as they end up involving banks that have signed contracts with SWIFT. We really need to be careful because as a country we may then be isolated on international trade if we do away with SWIFT.
we do not need that strong zimrand mr. author.
This is a great idea, unfortunately majority of people who responded to the article above, appear to have no understanding at all of how these bond coins will improve people’s lives. For the record, coins of any currency are harder to get than notes. This is mainly because international trade is done in notes. Getting American coins isn’t as easy as getting enough US dollar bills and paying for them,it’s both politics and economics. Some prices in Zimbabwe were rounded off the nearest higher dollar value because of lack of coins, now that we have the coins there is no need for a loaf of bread to cost $1. Now tell me if thats a bad thing. If the Reserve Bank can guarantee business people and individual people that they can get US dollars in exchange for these coins when they need them then I think this is a genius idea.
the author Peacemaker Zano, kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa, well tried but POVO YARAMBA, iPOVO IYALILE!
If the government is serious about making the lives of the masses better by reducing prices they should simply order proper American coins or SA rand coins and cents. The cost of getting the bond coins made plus the money going towards buying cars for chiefs, ministers and MPs should be enough to get us a batch of coins to use.
Keep your bond Coins we will keep our USD$ and Rands as it is guaranteed it will but anything and anywhere. Also it will not be changed and lose value overnight
bond coins ,start to remember those days when everyone became more than billionaires ,kkkkkkkkk if not quintillionaires
Chakachenjedza ndochakatanga, no thanks
Thanks, but no thanks! I would rather have the weaker rand in my pocket. who says I need a stronger currency? I just need a currency that’s convertible and can buy stuff anywhere.
I think the author of this article should read it again because he or she might just see the jokes which it is and maybe have a laugh. Ordinarily people like money it buys them things and makes their living easier so they will accept money with no questions asked if it is legal tender or even illegal with the hope of using it or exchanging it where it may be legal and so forth. The facts that citizens are shunning what is supposed to be their money is very worrying especially if this money is meant to make shopping easier for them. The big question is why is this strange and a world first phenomenon is happening in Mbuya Nehanda, Kaguvi and Lobengula’s land, Zimbaremabwe. The answer is simple, there are no suppositions here, citizens are uncomfortable with any form of currency with a special name such as Bearer cheque or Bond coin, because it indicates a serious monetary problem in which the ordinary citizen always stands out to be the biggest loser when those temporary currency forms get out of control. Zimbabweans know too well how hopelessly they were made spectators by the so called Reserve Bank whilst they were unjustly robbed of their savings, pensions and hard earned cash when the value of the now out of circulation Bearer’s cheques got eroded by the minute. Now it is the same ‘Reserve’ bank that now purports to be doing the citizens a good thing by introducing another temporary form of currency in the presence of other legal and permanent currencies in circulation. Well the old saying goes Once bitten twice shy, no wonder there is no rush to accept the reincarnated evil in metal armour. The RBZ is better advised against spending time and money playing these BAKOSI type of jokes, its job is to be a reserve hold of money and or gold of a local permanent currency supported by various economic activities. What they need is to create a reserve of meaningful currency or gold which is abundant in Zimbabwe and then mint and print a currency with a known value that is based on the balance of our imports and exports which they help sustain by managing their reserves. The bond coins are a joke, if people consider qualifications and number of people who are involved in managing the reserve bank. There are other pressing issues which the citizens want addresses like getting their salaries on schedule and compensation for their loses due to the demise of the Zimbabwe dollar. Unless the minister of finance enacts legislation governing the printing and minting of a Zimbabwean currency which involves the participation of the parliament in approving any extra injection of cash then the RBZ will remain vulnerable to political interference and people will never trust anything it mints or prints.