Zimbabwean dollar (2019–present)

On 29 January 2009, the Zimbabwean government legalised the use of foreign currencies, such as the United States dollar and the South African rand: in response, Zimbabweans quickly abandoned the old Zimbabwean dollar, which was collapsing from what was at the time the second highest rate of hyperinflation (after the Hungarian pengő in 1946).[9][10] On 12 April 2009, the power-sharing government of then-Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai suspended the old dollar, and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe demonetised the last banknotes of the old dollar, on 30 September 2015.[11][12]

The multi-currency system eventually resulted in a liquidity crisis, because Zimbabwe had to import more than what they could export, resulting in a net exodus of US dollars:[13] eventually, the Reserve Bank introduced a series of bond coins on 18 December 2014, and bond notes on 28 November 2016, after securing a total of US$250 million in loans from the African Export-Import Bank.[14][15]

Although bond money was officially interchangeable at par with the US dollar, the general public quickly resisted them as an attempt to reintroduce the Zimbabwean dollar, which gained a bad reputation due to hyperinflation.[16] That, along with the continued shortage of US dollars in Zimbabwe,[17] resulted in a thriving parallel exchange rate that ranged between $3.00 and $3.80 in bond money to the US dollar, in February 2019.[18]

The parallel rate and the continued shortage of US dollars created a situation where the Reserve Bank could no longer maintain the peg with the US dollar: the Reserve Bank also wanted to end the system of different exchange rates, which resulted in customers paying more or less depending on the payment method.[19] On 20 February 2019, Reserve Bank governor John Mangudya announced the introduction of the current Zimbabwean dollar, initially called the Real Time Gross Settlement dollar (RTGS dollar).[20] The RTGS dollar, which started trading on 25 February, consisted of real-time gross settlement balances (hence the name), and existing bond notes and bond coins (both of which were devalued by 60% to Z$2.50 per US dollar).[4][21]

On 24 June 2019, the Zimbabwean government renamed the RTGS dollar to the Zimbabwean dollar,[22] and banned the use of foreign currencies in an attempt to end the multi-currency system: the BBC reported widespread opposition to the ban, partly due to continued public distrust, partly due to high inflation, and partly due to traders still having to use hard currencies to import goods from abroad.[23] The onset of the coronavirus pandemic eventually forced the Reserve Bank to reinstate the multi-currency system, on 29 March 2020.[24]

On 29 October 2019, the Reserve Bank claimed that a new currency would replace the fifth dollar.[25] This claim turned out to be a new $2 bond coin, and revised $2 and $5 banknotes without the "bond note" inscription: both entered circulation on 11 November 2019.[26][27] The Reserve Bank continues to introduce higher value banknotes, with the $100 note entering circulation on 5 April 2022.[28]

The fifth Zimbabwean dollar continues to experience very high inflation, due to continued public distrust,[29] and the continued shortage of hard currency as a result of importers being unable to use Zimbabwean dollars:[30] almost immediately after the Reserve Bank abolished the peg, the official rate to the US dollar declined to Z$2.80 on 22 March, and Z$6.00 on 12 June 2019, while the parallel rate fluctuated between Z$7.00 and Z$13.00 by 3 July.[18][31][32] The Reserve Bank's annual inflation rate surpassed 100% in June 2019, and 500% in December 2019.[33] As of December 2022, the Reserve Bank annual inflation rate was 243.76%: the highest (since February 2019) was 837.53% in July 2020, and the lowest was 50.25% in August 2021.[33] Use of Zimbabwean dollars in Zimbabwe declined in favour of hard currencies, and as a result, in February 2023, Zimbabwe switched its headline inflation rate to the one that blends Zimbabwean dollar and US dollar prices, which has been criticised by businesses for hiding the real inflation rate in local currency, which has persisted despite the use of a "blended" inflation rate.[34][35]

The $2 and $5 bond notes entered circulation on 28 November 2016 and 3 February 2017, respectively.[15][38]

Bond notes, 2016 (Signature: John Mangudya, Capital: Harare)

Pick No.	Image		Value	Dimensions	Main colour		Description			Date of[39]
	Obverse	Reverse					Obverse	Reverse	Watermark	printing	issue	withdrawal
99			$2	155 × 62 mm		Green	Domboremari with trees	Eternal Flame at the National Heroes Acre, and the Old Parliament House	Zimbabwe Bird and "RBZ"	2016	28 November 2016	11 November 2019
100			$5	155 × 66 mm		Purple	Domboremari with trees	Three giraffes and the Zimbabwe Aloe (Aloe excelsa)	Zimbabwe Bird and "RBZ"	2016	3 February 2017	11 November 2019
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

On 11 November 2019, the Reserve Bank issued regular banknotes for the first time since 2009, with commercial banks releasing them to the general public on the following day:[26][27] the regular $2 and $5 banknotes are identical to the bond notes, but they do not have the "bond note" inscription on either side. $10 and $20 notes entered circulation on 19 May and 1 June 2020, respectively.[40]

The $50 note entered circulation on 6 July 2021, and became the first Zimbabwean banknote since the withdrawal of the Rhodesian pound in 1970 to feature a person: a portrait of Mbuya Nehanda, a significant figure of Zimbabwean nationalism, appears on reverse with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National Heroes Acre.[41] This was followed by the $100 banknote on 5 April 2022, which featured the ruins of Great Zimbabwe.[3][28]