• The bank predicted that the gold tokens will serve as a complementary currency to the USD.
• To combat locals’ thirst for U.S. dollars, the RBZ introduced the gold-backed tokens in May.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has announced that readiness for the launch of GBDT (gold-backed digital tokens) for use in transactions is at a high point as of this month. Upon launch, the bank predicted that the gold tokens will serve as a complementary currency to the U.S. dollar.

Governor John Mangudya of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) said in the bank’s recently issued mid-term monetary policy statement that the RBZ would soon launch awareness programs to “educate the public on the use and benefits of GBDT.” The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), one of the main players Mangudya said, has committed to adjusting its infrastructure so that GBDT-denominated cards may be issued.

Alternate Form of Currency

To combat locals’ thirst for U.S. dollars, the RBZ introduced the gold-backed tokens in May. However, the governor of the central bank said that the GBDTs had already shown to be a successful monetary policy tool only a few months after their introduction.

According to Mangudya, GBDTs have subsequently shown to be a useful tool for domestic monetary policy, with the ability to speed up the return to normality in the domestic financial and capital markets.

The RBZ governor said that just 769 gold coins, or around 2% of the total, had been redeemed at the conclusion of the 180-day vesting period, out of the 36,059 coins sold earlier by July 14. Mangudya claims that people are keeping their gold coins as an alternate form of currency because of the poor redemption rate.

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