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Zimbabwe President Backs Move to Ban Foreign Currencies

Columbus Mavhunga

   VICTORIA FALLS, ZIMBABWE - On Monday, Zimbabwe's finance minister
   announced a ban on the use of foreign currency to conduct transactions
   inside the country.

   Addressing journalists Tuesday at the end of a United Nations and
   African Union summit on wildlife, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the
   move was necessary.

   "Zimbabwe has gone back to normalcy, and the normalcy is a country must
   have its own currency, that's normalcy. We were living in abnormal
   situation and you should be the first to congratulate us for becoming
   normal again," he said.

   The government has not banned the possession of foreign currency,
   Mnangagwa added, it only wants people to exchange it for the national
   currency, known as bondnotes, before conducting any transactions.

   "If you want to buy your tea and you have your American dollar or euro,
   then you must go to bureau de change and change there and go and have
   your coffee. That's what we have done, that's what is normal," he said.

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