(BBC) Zimbabwe's central bank has launched gold coins in an effort to help curb soaring inflation amid a slump in the country's currency.
The central bank's main interest rate was more than doubled this month to 200% after the annual rate of inflation rose above 190%.
Each coin will be priced at the international market rate for an ounce of gold plus 5% for production costs.
As of Friday, an ounce was worth about $1,724 (£1,435).
It will be possible use the coins in shops, if they have enough change, according to the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, John Mangudya.
The coin is called "Mosi-oa-Tunya" which means "The Smoke Which Thunders" and refers to Victoria Falls, on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
During the worst of the crisis the government stopped publishing official inflation figures but one estimate put the inflation rate at 89.7 sextillion percent year on year in mid-November 2008.
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Meanwhile in Zimbabwe gold coins are being sold to the public as a hedge against inflation that has further eroded the country's already unstable currency.
2 comments:
Sorry but a "silver" dime has a current "melt value" of about $1.34 based on current silver price and thus is NOT worth anywhere near the value of a full ounce of silver. Some Mercury Dimes are worth much more base on date of issues and condition but that is based on Numismatic value....not the value of the silver in the coin.
A decimal point error on my part. But even at $1.34 that is more real value than our crap modern dime that is made of junk and has no value. I will correct the original article.
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