Zim dollar will only buy a taxi ride

All a Zim dollar will buy today is a taxi ride on certain routes in Harare. The Zim dollars are used as small change, and stay within the system. Shops have jars of chocolates and sweets, which serve as change in an economy where the US dollar, South African rand and Botswana pula are the unofficial official currencies. Because Zimbabwe is not printing its own money there are no coins, apart from a few stray South African R5 pieces – hence the use of Zim dollars and chocolates. Credit cards have only recently come back into use – and then only in the bigger hotels, shops and restaurants. For those travelling to Zimbabwe, or sending trucks and staff into the country, it is advisable to take dollars and rand in small denominations. Proffer a US$10 note or larger, and there is invariably “no change”. And forget about slips. In this cash-based economy, there is so little traceability the government wants to force retailers to install electronic tills fitted with e-proms that record all transactions and work out the VAT owed. It's an expensive, resourceful system – and it is making Zimbabwe work.