Harambe: Zimbabwe central bank says it has assets worth 2.5 tons of gold | Voice of America 4/4/24
On the eve of the anticipated rollout of a new gold-backed currency, Zimbabwe’s central bank announced Thursday that it has the equivalent of 2.5 tons of gold reserves.
Speaking in Harare after seeing the assets of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, John Mushayakarara, the new bank’s governor, told President Emmerson Mnangagwa – whom he addressed as H.E., for his excellency – that the bank’s balance sheet was healthy, with reserves of gold and other minerals worth $175 million.
“I have taken over the control of the central bank,” Mushayakarara said, “and one of the things I had to do upon taking over was to verify the assets that the central bank holds. And this morning I showed H.E. the gold that is in the vaults, and I can confirm that we have in the vaults at the central bank 1.1 tons of gold.
“We also have other minerals – diamonds and so forth. If converted to gold, [they would] be equal to 0.4 ton of gold. We have other gold which is held offshore. It is worth 1 ton of gold.”
On Friday, Mushayakarara is expected to announce the introduction of a gold-backed currency to replace the worthless local dollar, which is currently trading at around 30,000 to one U.S. dollar and, unlike the South African rand, does not circulate in neighboring countries.
This was the first time in recent memory that the central bank gave an accounting of its gold and mineral assets. Mnangagwa said he was happy to physically see the assets that outgoing Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor John Mangudya handed over to Mushayakarara.
Responding to a question from journalists about whether the country had enough gold to back its anticipated new currency, Mnangagwa said, “Let me assure you that my government does not work on rumors. We work on facts. Rumors can continue flying, but you have been able to come here and see facts for yourselves. So you should compare the facts you see today and the rumors you hear in the streets.”
The press conference generated much debate on social media, with some saying the country’s gold reserves were being looted. One businessman allied with the ruling Zanu-PF party, Pedzisayi Sakupwanya, said he delivered 13 tons of gold to the central bank last year.
Zimbabwe has introduced and abandoned at least five currencies since independence in 1980, all of which lost value to become almost worthless. It remains to be seen how well the new gold-backed currency is accepted by the public, and how it trades against the dollar and the South African rand.
https://www.voanews.com/a/zimbabwe-central-bank-says-it-has-2-5-tons-of-gold-reserves/7557328.html
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Tishwash: could this be smoke before the fire? hmmmmm
Pictures of ‘new Indonesia banknotes’ shared online not legal tender: central bank
Indonesia’s central bank have considered for years to change the country’s banknotes by dropping three zeroes from the rupiah, but a video viewed hundreds of thousands of times online does not show new money in circulation in March 2024. Images in the clip appearing to show banknotes were taken from a January 2013 news report that illustrated what the new rupiah could look like. They were not legal tender, according to Bank Indonesia.
The video, which appeared to show three banknotes with the value of 20, 50 and 100 rupiah, was viewed more than 43,000 times in a TikTok post from March 16, 2024.
The post claimed to share the “latest” update from Bank Indonesia, the central bank that has sole authority to issue money in the archipelago. The Indonesian-language caption said in part: “New Money 2024”.
A male narrator could be heard in the video saying: “Bank Indonesia officially issued new money or rupiah notes of 1,000 to 100,000 rupiah.” He added the central bank removed three zeroes in the new money.
Screenshot of the false post, taken on March 27, 2024
Indonesia’s finance ministry and the central bank have for years been considering to “simplify” the national currency by removing three zeroes from the rupiah in a practice called redenomination (archived links here and here).
The same video was viewed more than 771,000 times in similar posts on TikTok and SnackVideo here and here.
The image of the purported new money also previously circulated on Facebook in 2020.
However, the video shows illustration designs for Indonesian money presented in 2013.
Not legal tender
Bank Indonesia clarified in a post on social media platform X on March 17, 2024 that the video was a “hoax” (archived link).
“The video circulating is definitely not from Bank Indonesia,” it said. “The visuals presented in the video are definitely not the official rupiah circulated by Bank Indonesia.”
The bank added it had not started the redenomination process for the rupiah. “The redenomination implementation still needs to see the right momentum and it will not be carried out in the foreseeable future,” it said. link
