The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says the country should adopt bond notes as a primary currency to alleviate cash shortages and solve economic challenges.

RBZ director Economic Research Simon Nyarota said calls for the formal adoption of the South African rand as an anchor currency were not going to solve the country’s biting cash shortages.

“The country needs to buttress the multi-currency regime with bond notes towards a full currency board arrangement as part of a de-dollarisation agenda,” he said during a public lecture at the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo last week

“To migrate to a full currency board, the country needs to cover 100 percent of base money which currently stands at around $1,1 billion with foreign currency reserves,” he added.