Zimbabwean bond notes are a form of

banknote A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable instrument, negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes w ...

in circulation in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

. Released by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the notes were stated to not be a currency in itself but rather

legal tender Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in ...

near money pegged equally against the

U.S. dollar The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

. In 2014, prior to the release of bond notes, a series of bond coins entered circulation.

History

In November 2016, backed by a loan from the

African Export-Import Bank African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe began issuing $2 bond notes. Two months later, worth of new five-dollar bond notes were also released. Further plans for and bond notes were ruled out by the Reserve Bank's governor John Mangudya. The notes were not generally accepted by the Zimbabwean people, so the government tried expanding the electronic money supply and issuing Treasury bills instead. The bond notes were still in circulation in 2018, although former Finance Minister

Tendai Biti Tendai Laxton Biti (born 6 August 1966) is a Zimbabwean politician who served as Finance Minister of Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2013. He is the current Member of Parliament for Harare East Constituency and the second Vice President of Citizens Coa ...

said that they should be demonetised, as they were being subject to

arbitrage In economics and finance, arbitrage (, ) is the practice of taking advantage of a difference in prices in two or more markets; striking a combination of matching deals to capitalise on the difference, the profit being the difference between t ...

. In the campaigning for the 2018 elections, the bond notes became a political issue, with the MDC Alliance calling for their replacement with 'real cash'. Despite the notes being notionally pegged to the US dollar, their value, like the former

Zimbabwean dollar The Zimbabwean dollar (sign: $, or Z$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies) was the name of four official currencies of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 12 April 2009. During this time, it was subject to periods of extreme inflat ...

, is collapsing, with everyday transactions using a rate of $3 bond notes to in January 2019 and over $90 bond notes to as of November 2020. As of August 2022, the conversion rate is $361.9 bond notes to US$1.

Issued Notes

Bond Notes and the RTGS Dollar

In February 2019, the RBZ Governor announced that the bond notes would be part of the "values" that make up the new currency to be added into the Zimbabwean market, the RTGS dollar along with the bond coins and electronic balances.

References

{{Currencies of Africa, obsolete=true Currencies introduced in 2016 Currencies of Africa Currencies of Zimbabwe Dollar

History

Issued Notes

Bond Notes and the RTGS Dollar

See also

References