Accept old and worn US$ notes

Business Reporter
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has pleaded with businesses and the transacting public to accept old and worn United States dollar notes.

Central Bank Governor, Dr John Mangudya, said the claim that old and worn notes no longer have value was baseless.

The same position has been maintained by the United States Embassy in Harare.

The Government recently okayed the use of foreign currency alongside the Zimbabwean dollar for local transactions.

The decision has been widely endorsed by the business community and individuals with free funds who were previously inconvenienced under the mono-currency regulations and would fall prey to exchange rate distortions on the parallel market.

“It has come to the attention of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe that some persons are refusing to accept old and worn United States (US dollar) notes alleging that they are old and mutilated and therefore of no value,” he said in a public statement Tuesday.

“For the benefit of the transacting public and as already advised by the USA Embassy on 16 November 2020, the bank wishes to inform and restate the position of the United States Government that that the US dollar notes do not expire no matter their age, and that the US Government does not even consider old, worn notes to be mutilated as long as more than half of the note is intact, and the value of the note is clear.”

The concern over old and worn notes comes at a time when consumers are also struggling with change for forex transactions due to shortage of smaller denominations.