When the year began the bond note was easily the strongest currency in the Southern African region. Officially it was on par with the US dollar, even if you used its black market value of $3.5 ZWL to 1, the bond note was still more powerful than even the Pula.

On June 24 the government introduced the Zimbabwean dollar as the sole domestic currency. According to prevailing government fiction, the Zimbabwean dollar is made up of RTGS bank balances, bond notes and bond coins which are all equal. In reality, the RTGS is worth significantly less. One dollar in bonds is worth 150% in RTGS.

So while the bond note is still stronger than the Rand, for now at least, the RTGS is now weaker than the Rand. According to the government’s official rate, the Rand and Zimbabwean dollar are at par.

According to Friday’s trading information:

R100➡120 RTGS$
R100➡ 80 BOND
Source bluemari

The year is not even out and the Rand is now stronger

Bloomberg has declared the Zimbabwean dollar to be the worst-performing currency in the world after it shed more than 80% of its value since its introduction in January. No currency can hope to even come close to matching that.

Expect the Rand to be stronger than the bond before the year is out. In fact, when it comes to purchasing power parity the Rand buys way more than the bond note.