THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) yesterday said it would start issuing gold-backed digital tokens on May 8 as one of its several measures to save the free-falling local currency.
In July last year, gold coins were introduced as part of
several policy measures to ease demand for the greenback, stabilise the
Zimbabwe dollar exchange rate and tame resurgent inflation.
But the gold coins have done little to save the local
currency that is trading at $1 to $2 100 on the parallel market compared to $1
036 on the official auction market.
“The gold-backed tokens will be fully backed by physical
gold held by the bank. As previously advised, the issuance is meant to expand
the value-preserving instruments available in the economy and enhance
divisibility of the investment instruments and widen their access and usage by
the public,” RBZ governor John Mangudya said in a statement after a sitting of
the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on March 28.
“Gold-backed digital tokens will be issued for investment
purposes with a vesting period of 180 days and redeemable in the same way as
the existing physical gold coins. The tokens will be available for sale through
banks in both foreign currency and Zimbabwean dollar.
“Banks will create specific or dedicated accounts for the
holding of gold-backed digital tokens (e-gold wallets or e-gold cards). Holders
of physical gold coins at their discretion will be able to exchange or convert
through the banking system the physical gold coins into gold-backed digital
tokens.”
He added: “The gold-backed digital tokens held in either
e-gold or gold cards will be tradable and capable of facilitating
person-to-person and person to business transactions and settlements. It
therefore means that the gold-backed do tokens would be used both as a means of
payment and a store of value.
“Payment for the gold-backed digital tokens or physical
gold coins in Zimbabwean dollar shall remain at the current 20% margin above
the willing-buyer willing-seller interbank midrate.” Newsday
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