Capitalk Reporter | 11 months ago | business
The new $100 notes that will soon be introduced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe will not be inflationary but instead improve convenience for the transacting public as the use of small-value denominations has been rendered more cumbersome by inflation, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr. John Mangudya has said.
Banknotes are essentially small changes and hardly used anymore for shopping, where mobile and plastic money now dominate as Zimbabweans get out of the cash habit, but they are needed for things like bus fares and other small transactions.
At the exchange rates set by the auctions this week, the $100 note is equivalent to about 68.55 US cents and is in fact the standard ZUPCO urban bus fare.
Dr. Mangudya said the higher denomination was one way for the RBZ to improve access to cash for the public, apart from the other benefit of improving convenience for the transacting public and businesses.
It’s not going to cause inflation because we are not printing any new money. Individuals and businesses can only access cash-based only on what they have in their bank accounts, "he said.
According to a notice gazetted on Tuesday, the $100 note will be introduced, as are all currency notes, in terms of the RBZ Act, with Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube gazetting the notice. The RBZ has not specified a date for the introduction of the new note.
The note will be brown in color and follow the general front design of Zimbabwean currency with the three balancing rocks of the RBZ and with the particular note design on the back being the Great Zimbabwe monument and a baobab tree.
There are the usual security features, with the visually impaired recognition feature on the front to the left, a latent image showing the denomination, and a windowed security strip inscribed "RBZ" with a color shift from red to green.
The watermark has the highlighted inscription "RBZ" and a see-through of the Zimbabwe Bird looking to the left in perfect register, as secondary features.
On the back, the security features include a gold-colored iridescent band showing the denomination of the note and a see-through of the Zimbabwe Bird looking to the right.
