Zimbabweans queued outside banks in Harare on Friday as the central bank opened trading of a new currency known as RTGS dollars.
Central Bank Governor John Mangudya said in Harare that the new currency would trade at around 2.5 to the U.S. dollar.
Mangudya also announced that the country had ditched the 1:1 ratio between Zimbabwe bond notes and US dollars, a rate maintained by the central bank for nearly three years.
The RTGS dollars are composed of RTGS balances, bond notes and bond coins and are in the basket of currencies.
The
exchange rate is seen by experts as a significant devaluation as the regulator
attempts to stem chronic cash shortages. Trading on the Inter-bank market was
due to begin on Monday, although Mangudya mentioned trading had started on
Friday morning.
