Government will soon introduce a new ZWL$ 100 note in a move aimed at easing cash shortages as well as improving portability for the transacting public at a time small denominations have been eroded by inflation.
Inflation reached 72.7 percent year-on-year from 66.1 percent in February.
The highest denomination in circulation currently, is the ZWL$ 50 note, whose value has also been eroded significantly.
In a circular, from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development confirmed the development.
“This notice may be cited as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (Issue of One Hundred Dollar Banknote) Notice, 2022. There shall be issued, in terms of the Act, a hundred dollar banknote.”
The design of the one hundred dollar banknote shall be as
follows – “(a) on the front side the dominant feature shall be the logo of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (three balancing rocks), with the visually impaired recognition feature to the left, latent image showing the denomination, windowed security strip inscribed “RBZ” with colour shift from red to green, watermark with highlighted inscription “RBZ” and see-through of Zimbabwe Bird looking to the left in perfect register, as secondary features,”
“On the back side there shall be an impression of Great Zimbabwe Monument and the Baobab Tree, gold coloured iridescent band showing the denomination of the note and see-through of the Zimbabwe Bird looking to the right.”
The development comes at a time the local currency remains extremely volatile and has been depreciating rapidly.
On the parallel market, the ZWL is currently trading between ZWL$ 250-300 against the USD while on the RBZ-run auction system, the currency is trading at ZWL$ 145.
In real terms, the ZWL$ 100 note will translate to around US$ 0.33 using the parallel market rate.
There are fears that the introduction of the ZWL$ 100 note may spike price increases amid lack of confidence in the currency by the market.
