BOND notes and coins will continue being used as legal tender in Zimbabwe for a limited period alongside new notes and coins, which will be put into circulation this month, a senior Government official has said.

Last week, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) announced the introduction of new bank notes by mid-November as it moves to end long running cash shortages in the economy.

Finance and Economic Development permanent secretary, Mr George Guvamatanga, dismissed assertions that bond notes would be immediately demonitised once the new notes were introduced.

“The bond notes will still work though, so I am not saying come rush and change the bond note (for the new notes). Initially the bond notes will work alongside the new notes and coins and they will have the same value,” he said.

“At some point we will cut off, if you continue holding them, we will not tell you when we will cut off, but at some point, we will cut off and only remain with the new notes and coins.”

Mr Guvamatanga said the main motivation behind the introduction of the new notes was to alleviate the current cash shortages.

“The new currency when we introduced it (in June this year), was not supported by its own notes and coins and we adopted the bond notes and coins as a form of the physical cash to support the new currency. We are now saying the time is now right for us to bring in new notes and coins, which support the currency that is already there,” he said.State media