Zimbabwean Vice President Joice Mujuru has urged government to adopt the Chinese yuan into its multi-currency regime to “effectively deal with prevailing liquidity challenges.”
Mujuru says embracing the Chinese tender will make trading between Beijing and Harare more efficient, a report in the state-run daily, Herald newspaper said Monday.
China has emerged as Zimbabwe’s leading trading partner under the so-called Look East Policy launched by President Robert Mugabe’s former Zanu PF government a few years ago.
Zimbabwe ditched its own tender last year and introduced a basket of foreign currencies including the South African Rand, the Botswana Pula and the U.S. Dollar in a move meant to stem inflation. The move has succeeded to some extent.
Commenting, economic analyst Rejoice Ngwenya told VOA Studio 7 reporter Ntungamili Nkomo that Mujuru's proposal was less likely to succeed as business would not embrace the yuan.
"The Chinese currency has little relevance to Zimbabwe and chances are that this proposal will have no takers," Ngwenya said.
