I am not aware of any country which has no currency of its own, but that is not my field — I am a lawyer — but except for Zimbabwe,

President Emmerson Mnangagwa literally warned of his government’s imminent removal of the multi currency regime two days ago in Mozambique when he said his government Government had finalised modalities to introduce a new currency, which will be the sole legal tender in the country.

In an interview with business media outlet, Bloomberg, on the sidelines of the 12th US-Africa Business Summit in Maputo, Mozambique, on Thursday, the President said “it is necessary that we have our own currency” since it is presently difficult to determine the level of money supply in the economy.

“Then, of course, there is an issue which is critical also for any economy: this is the question of currency. I am not aware of any country which has no currency of its own, but that is not my field — I am a lawyer — but except for Zimbabwe, I haven’t been told of another country which doesn’t have its own currency.

“Even poor countries have currencies from what I hear, so we intend to introduce our own,” said President Mnangagwa.
The value of the new currency, he added, would be tethered to the country’s economic activities and assets.

He said the name of the local unit would be inconsequential as long as it meets the set objectives of sustainably growing the local economy.

“The name of the local currency? You know Deng Xiaoping of China? The cat doesn’t need to be white or black as long as it catches mice, so the name of the currency to me is not a critical issue; the critical issue is we must have a domestic currency by whatever name.

“We must have a domestic currency so that will be the currency which we will use for transactions in the country. Anybody who has US dollars or a tonne of pounds must go to the bank and change and transact . . . the money supply will relate also to our GDP; it will relate to the volume of assets we have; to development of infrastructure in the country,” he said.

South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni recently indicated that it would be reasonable and sensible for Harare to begin using its own currency.