Zimbabwe Replaced Zim Dollar with USD & ZAR – Start of the Recovery?

Zimbabwe has recently replaced it’s disastrous own Zim Dollar with the more stable (massive understatement) American Dollar and South-African Rand. The reason is, as you all know, the apparently infinite inflation that has driven the local currency into a deep hellhole. So the question is if this change is going to help Zimbabwe become the bread basket of Africa as they once could call themselves? And as a traveler, there are other interesting questions popping up as well: Will this make it easier to travel in Zimbabwe? Will the money you spend in Zimbabwe benefit the people or the corrupt government? How can you make sure your spending helps Zimbabwe get back on track?

Mugabe’s Money Printing Forced to an End

I will direct the first question first. After the last election in Zimbabwe, Mugabe was forced to share his powers with Tzvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T). The MDC-T Finance Minister is the man behind the replacement of the Zim Dollar. And Mugabe is not happy about this. He wants to keep his old habit of printing cash to pay for his sick spending. But to do this, he needs to have a currency he is allowed to print. And there is no way he can print American Dollars or South-Africa Rands. So he prints Zim Dollars. But after Tendai Biti made Mugabe’s favorite currency indefinitely obsolete, nobody will accept his corrupt money anymore. And the he also added that he will quit if Mugabe forces him to let the old currency return to the markets. I like this new finance minister, he might actually have the guts it takes restore Zimbabwe’s Economy.

The End of a World Record Inflation

After the US Dollar and S-A Rand took over in Zimbabwe, the horrendous inflation as completely stopped, according to Biti. This means that people can once again start saving, without loosing money. The rumor also says that the stores are filling up and that you can actually find groceries in the grocery store (I have this rumor from an ultra conservative blog, and would have liked to have it confirmed from other sources; anyone out there who has been in Zimbabwe recently?).

Of course it takes time for the Zim dollar to completely disappear from the local markets. The Associated Press writes that people still pay a few trillion zim dollars for a ride with the bus. It is also a problem that it takes quite some time for the USD and ZAR to make it’s way to the most remote villages and households. This means that in lack of a real currency, people still live in an old school trading regime where everything from cooking oil to goats work as currency and candy works as change. The AP also mentioned the story of an old lady who paid for a long bus ride with a living chicken, where to people had asked her if she wanted it’s eggs as change.

However, even though Zimbabwe’s economy is not what it once was, this is for sure a good change. It will be stabilizing, as well as ensuring more predictability for people. I am not saying that this will fix it all, but the inflation and Mugabe’s money printing have definitely been the root of Zimbabwe’s main problems these past ten years. And it will be very interesting to see how things develop from this point!

Can and Should we Travel in Zimbabwe?

If the rumor is true, that stores are filling up with goods, and essentials for travel like, food, water and gas for transportation is available; then yes! Travel in Zimbabwe is for sure feasible, and probably fairly easy and safe. You should of course keep in mind that people are poor, hungry and desperate, which means that you should take the same precautions there as in other Africa countries. You can learn more about this here: The Truth about Crime and Safety for Traveler’s in Africa.

When it comes to the questions if tourism to Zimbabwe is beneficial for the local population there, the answer is also a big yes! What they need now is currency with real value, and that is what you as a traveler will bring them! They need US dollars and South Africa Rands. And if you travel the right way, you can be a very important factor in the Zimbabwean people’s life. By eating at locally owned restaurants where they serve locally produced food, stay at locally owned guesthouses, and just support the local small businesses, you will help create jobs, incomes and livelihoods in a country where that is what they need the most!

At the same time you will see a country in great change and at a critical stage. You will see how millions of lives depend directly on a country’s government, how one man’s greed can destroy millions of lives, and how one little change in policy, in this case the replacement of the Zim Dollar, can stop the world’s worst economic disaster. You will also see a beautiful, green and resource full country, with great people, interesting cultures and one of earth’s most amazing waterfalls (Victoria Falls)!