Source: New $2, $5 notes identity revealed – The Standard November 3, 2019
BY BLESSED MHLANGA
The government has gazetted the features of the new Zimbabwe dollar notes that are expected to be injected into the system in the coming days.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya announced last week that the central bank will in the next two weeks introduce $2 and $5 notes, which will mark the official return of the local currency that was abandoned in 2009.
According to a statutory instrument released yesterday, the notes will have the same colour as the $2 (green) and $5 (purple) bond notes that have been in circulation since 2016.
“On the front side of both the $2 and the $5 note, the dominate feature shall be the logo of the RBZ (three balancing rocks), with the visually impaired recognition feature on the left, latent image showing the denomination, optical variable ink with colour shift from gold to green, security thread with the inscription RBZ and see through of Zimbabwe bird looking into the left in perfect register as secondary features,” reads part of the statutory instrument.
“The $2 note shall have an impression of the Parliament of Zimbabwe building and the image of the eternal flame at its back, while the $5 note will have three giraffes and three plain trees.”
Since the beginning of the year, the government has introduced a raft of currency reforms that culminated in the dumping of the multicurrency system in June.
However, the return of the Zimbabwe dollar after a decade of dollarisation has seen a rapid increase in inflation and intensifying foreign currency shortages.
Finance minister Ncube last week said the RBZ will inject the new notes into the system to cure the liquidity crisis, which has crippled businesses and eroded wages.
Some dealers are taking advantage of the liquidity crunch to sell cash at premiums of as much as 60%.
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