“I’ve been in government for 38 years as minister and I can’t remember when you ever had a budget surplus,” 

President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his finance chief possibly rushed to bring back the Zim Dollar to aid their move to pursue financing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

It has been reported that Mnangagwa was considering a Eurobond offering to rescue the drastic economic status of Zimbabwe.

“It is necessary that we have our own currency. I have faith that we’ll achieve that even before the end of the year or by the first quarter of next year,” said Mnangagwa.

Since, 2009 when the state decided to eliminate its own currency the country has been using different currencies such as the South African rand, U.S dollar, and its own RTGS and bond notes that are also affected by inflation on a daily basis.

Mnangagwa last week hinted the return of the dollar and its core relation to the IMF funding said his finance minister, Mthuli Ncube had prepared the ground for a new currency, starting with the first budget surplus.

“I’ve been in government for 38 years as minister and I can’t remember when you ever had a budget surplus,” he said, “now, this young man has been able to achieve a budget surplus in less than eight months. So it tells me that what he tells me is possibly true on these issues.”

Ncube said: “The government last month agreed on measures to re-engage with the IMF for the first time in more than a decade. Under the arrangement, known as a staff-monitored program, the fund will assess government’s economic progress by the end of January.”

“The first order of business is to clear the arrears and then move onto phase two, which is the bilateral discussions with the Paris Club.”

“If it works well in the first phase, it’s the same Paris partners who control those two big institutions that I was talking about, the same people. So if they accept supporting us on the same program with the European Investment Bank, surely they will support us on the bilateral phase as well.”