The Minister of Finance of Zimbabwe is proposing the creation of a government unit for technological and financial innovation to coordinate government policy on cryptoassets.
The Zimbabwean government is developing another package of measures to overcome the economic crisis. Falling exports, hyperinflation and the financing of government spending through the over-issuance of Treasury bills led the country to a severe liquidity crisis.
The authorities fear a repeat of hyperinflation of 500,000,000,000%. In a situation of economic despair, the Zimbabwean government is ready to consider the most non-standard options, for example, completely abandon the circulation of cash and switch to electronic payments.
Back in 2016, one of the innovative approaches to saving Zimbabwe’s economy was proposed by the independent South African economist Russell Lamberti. According to Lamberti, the introduction of bitcoin will help reduce the dependence of the economy on cash capital, and will also help Zimbabwe find new export markets.
After 5 years, Lamberti’s proposal found a response in the person of the new Minister of Finance of Zimbabwe, Mthuli Ncube. According to reports from the news outlet ItWebAfrica, Ncube expressed the opinion that the use of cryptocurrency could become the solution to the country’s financial problems, including its introduction into everyday economic circulation.
In his opinion, the Zimbabwean government should be more persistent in leading the processes of introducing cryptocurrency innovations, since there is no activity on the part of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe should look at examples from other countries to ease the economic hardships the country is facing, and “if these countries see value in crypto assets, we should also pay close attention to them.”
Ncube believes that it is necessary to create a state unit for technological and financial innovations to study possible options for using BTC in the country’s economic life. Next, ask the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, based on the experience of Switzerland, to allow Zimbabwean banks to invest in bitcoin.
It is not clear whether Ncube’s proposals will receive support from the government and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. But if it turns out that the country is ready to follow the example of El Salvador, then Zimbabwe will become the first country on the African continent to openly admit investments in cryptocurrency.
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