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Harare - Zimbabwe's central bank chief on Friday unveiled four new coins in what some locals speculated was an attempt to test the waters ahead of a possible return of the Zimbabwe dollar.
The coins, dubbed Bond Coins, are in denominations of one, five, 10, and 25 cents. They will be released into circulation on 18 December, the state ZBC radio reported.
Their value will be on a par with US cents, according to Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya. The unveiling of the coins by Mangudya was intended to build confidence in the economy, ZBC reported.
Zimbabwe has exclusively used foreign currency for all transactions since early 2009 after the local dollar was rendered worthless by hyper-inflation.
The US dollar and the rand are the main currencies used, although others are permitted.
The official reason for the introduction of these coins is to solve a change problem in many shops, where customers are forced to round up their bills to the nearest dollar by taking sweets or cheap ballpoint pens.
But many Zimbabweans are wary of backdoor attempts to reintroduce the Zimbabwe dollar, especially given growing liquidity problems.
A new 50c coin will begin to circulate in March, according to the bank chief.
