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GOVERNMENT has gazetted a new statutory instrument that gives legal effect to amounts of local and foreign currency individuals can legally take out of the country at any given time.
In his 2023 Monetary Policy Statement issued recently, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor, Dr John Mandudya, outlined new maximum amounts including old bank notes permitted to be exported.
He said in order to align Zimbabwean policies with regional and international best-practice the maximum amount of foreign currency on cash and gold coins that may be taken out of Zimbabwe in person or in the baggage of a person who is leaving the country, be reviewed from US$5 000 or its equivalent in any other currency or combination of currencies, to US$10 000 or its equivalent in any other currency or combination of currencies.
The Apex Bank has also set the maximum amount of Zimbabwean currency notes and coins that may be taken out of Zimbabwe in person or in the baggage to 20 000 Zimbabwean dollars or an equivalent of US$1 000 at the prevailing interbank exchange rate.
The gazetting of Statutory Instrument 20A of 2023 under the Exchange Control (General) (Amendment) order (No. 20), thus, gives effect to the above and applies to the possession of currency in the departure or transit lounge.
“The amount of Zimbabwean currency that a person who is about to leave Zimbabwe may possess, without authorisation in terms of section 22 of the Exchange Control Regulations, 1996, Statutory Instrument 109 of 1996, in the departure or transit lounge . . . of an airport or other port of entry or exit, shall be an equivalent of one thousand United States dollars, at the prevailing interbank exchange rate, in the case of notes and coins in circulation, and not more than 100 pieces of each denomination, in the case of demonetised notes and coins,” reads the new SI.
The amount of foreign currency that a person who is about to leave Zimbabwe may possess, without authorisation in terms of section 22 of the Exchange Control Regulations, 1996, Statutory Instrument 109 of 1996, in the departure or transit lounge of an airport or other port of entry or exit, shall be a total of US$10 000 or its equivalent in any other currency or combination of currencies, or gold coins worth US$10 000 or other currencies amounting to US$10 000.
“The Exchange Control (General) (Amendment) Order, 2022 (No. 19), published in Statutory Instrument 57 of 2022, is repealed.”
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