Zimbabwe can adopt rand as standard currency

Zimbabwe can adopt rand as standard currency - Motlanthe

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Posted to the web: 09/02/2009 11:48:11
SOUTH African President Kgalema Motlanthe has said that Zimbabwe, crippled by a record rise in inflation, can adopt the rand as its standard currency.

It was reported last month that Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank governor, Gideon Gono, had recommended that the rand be informally adopted alongside the Zimbabwean dollar as inflation reaches an all-time high and the local currency an all-time low.

At the time, the offices of SA Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni and Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said they had not been approached by their Harare counterparts to grant permission to extend the rand northwards.

In an SABC interview at the weekend, Motlanthe said, referring to power-sharing between President Robert Mugabe and prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai: "We have to help them so that the coalition government works."

It "may be practical for them to enter into an arrangement with the Reserve Bank here and allow the rand to become the common currency," he added, without fleshing out his suggestion.

Motlanthe also serves as president of the Southern African Development Community, which is mediating the Zimbabwe crisis.

He urged the international community to help the new power-sharing government, due to be installed this week.

Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's main opposition leader, is to be Prime Minister and Mugabe is to remain President in a unity government expected to be inaugurated this week.

Tsvangirai, under pressure from regional leaders and eager to address Zimbabwe's growing humanitarian crisis, agreed to join the coalition despite deep reservations about Mugabe's willingness to share power.
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