BAZ advised and assured the public that current banking limits regarding cash withdrawals would not be changed as a consequence of the introduction of the coins.
No return to Zim dollar
The bank said in a statement: "The coins have been issued purely to alleviate the current shortage of small denomination in the economy, which has resulted in recorded inefficiencies and a huge cost to consumer welfare.”
BAZ said the coins did not represent or signal a return to the Zimbabwe dollar.
“In fact, it is being undertaken to buttress the multi-currency regime,” said BAZ.
The statement by BAZ comes in the wake of online media reports saying that the introduction of the coins was a plan to raid the US dollar accounts of citizens and give the owners worthless coins.
Alarming reports
The same media reports also alleged that after the introduction of coins, withdrawal limits from banks would be reduced to $200 at a time.
Analysts dismissed the false and alarming reports as reckless and aimed at destroying the good intentions of the RBZ.
“The RBZ is only introducing coins worth $10m against total bank deposits of more than $4.3bn, so I don’t think they will risk scaring the much needed foreign investments just to get their hands on $10m,” said one analyst.