Zimbabwe considers joining rand monetary area

Zimbabwe is seriously considering using the rand as its official currency. That's according to newly-appointed Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube who said the country had only three viable options to get out of the cash crunch it was facing. Business Day reports that Ncube’s major challenge is to stabilise the economy that has recently been hit by acute shortages of cash and basic commodities and skyrocketing prices. 'I am very clear that there have to be currency reforms and the (current) currency approach is not working,' he said. The chief economist of the African Development Bank said that joining the rand monetary area 'will close the gap in loss of competitiveness against our largest trading partner, South Africa'. He added that the third option was to adopt a new Zimbabwean dollar 'which has to be backed by adequate foreign reserves and macroeconomic conditions for its stability'.