gummibear Posted February 9, 2009 Posted February 9, 2009 From Iafrica- Zimbabwe to adopt Rand? President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Sunday that Zimbabwe, crippled by a record inflation rate, could adopt the South African Rand as its standard currency. "We have to help them so that the coalition government works," Motlanthe said in an interview with the SABC channel, referring to power-sharing between President Robert Mugabe and prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai. It "may be practical for them to enter into an arrangement with the reserve bank here and allow the rand to become the common currency," he added, without fleshing out his suggestion. Motlanthe also currently serves as president of the Southern African Development Community, which is mediating the crisis. Prices in Zimbabwe rose by 231 million per cent in July ? the last time official inflation figures were made public. However, analysts say inflation in Zimbabwe actually stands at several billion per cent. The national currency, the Zimbabwean dollar, has been repeatedly devalued and restrictions on the use of foreign currencies including the US dollar, the euro and the rand have been lifted by Harare. Zimbabwe is also struggling to fend off a deepening humanitarian crisis amid a cholera epidemic blamed on collapsed infrastructure and a desperate need of food aid, according to international agencies. Motlanthe also urged the international community to help the new power-sharing government, due to be installed this week, after the African Union called for sanctions against Robert Mugabe and his aides to be lifted.
fandacious Posted February 9, 2009 Posted February 9, 2009 its been unofficially used as the main currency for over a year now...
Jules Posted February 9, 2009 Posted February 9, 2009 Why would it be a joke? Sounds quite sensible. Although Zimbabwe has all but already adopted the US$. Everything there is priced in US$.
fandacious Posted February 9, 2009 Posted February 9, 2009 also, their "inflation" figures arent quite correct. its not that the price of goods is increasing, its that their currency is devaluing. if the price of goods was increasin, youd be paying a jillion RAND for a loaf of bread...
gummibear Posted February 9, 2009 Author Posted February 9, 2009 What effect will this have on the R/$ exchange rate if Zim officially uses it?
fandacious Posted February 9, 2009 Posted February 9, 2009 wont have any effect... however, it might affect our money supply, but the economic boffins will be able to elaborate more on that
brianj Posted February 9, 2009 Posted February 9, 2009 What effect will this have on the R/$ exchange rate if Zim officially uses it? depends on the relative sizes of the economies - so not much in the short term!
Jules Posted February 9, 2009 Posted February 9, 2009 Same effect their using the US$ had on that currency - zip. It's not like they're going to take over our reserve bank. Mad bob has a strong incentive not to adopt the rand though. The "official" exchange rate has been a highly effective method of theft over the past few years.
cat-i Posted February 9, 2009 Posted February 9, 2009 at least if the R is official, you'd be able to use it ... instead of having to change money to buy what you want in us dollars, and getting change in zim dollars ...
Velouria Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 Nothing new: (From Wiki) The loti (pl. maloti) is the currency of the Kingdom of Lesotho. It is subdivided into 100 lisente (sg. sente). It is pegged to the South African rand on a 1:1 basis through the Common Monetary Area, and both are accepted as legal tender within Lesotho. The lilangeni (plural: emalangeni, ISO 4217 code: SZL) is the currency of Swaziland and is subdivided into 100 cents. The South African rand is also accepted in Swaziland and it is issued by the Central Bank of Swaziland. It was introduced in 1974 at par with the South African rand through the Common Monetary Area, to which it remains tied at a one-to-one exchange rate. The dollar (currency code NAD) has been the currency of Namibia since 1993. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively N$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. The dollar replaced the South African rand, which had been the country's currency while it was under South African rule as South-West Africa 1920-1990. The rand is still legal tender, as the Namibian dollar is linked to the South African rand and can be exchanged on a one-to-one basis locally.
riaanb Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 If Bob and his mates aren't allowed to print Rands, then this will have little effect on SA, but why would he allow that as, if he cannot print Rands, he cannot pay his army etc. and then loses control.
Azonic Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 http://www.fin24.co.za/articles/default/display_article.aspx?Nav=ns&ArticleID=1518-25_2467193
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