According to reports, Zimbabwe began issuing one-ounce gold coins last month as a means of combatting rampant currency deflation, and it was so successful that the country is planning to begin issuing smaller denominations this fall.
“Following the successful launch of the gold coins on 25 July 2022 and in response to public demand, the bank shall introduce and release into the market gold coins in units of a tenth ounce, quarter ounce and half an ounce for sale with effect from mid-November 2022,” Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya said this week.
According to Zero Hedge, the coins are being sold through approved banks and were introduced by the government as a means of combatting runaway inflation that is being fed by local citizens exchanging Zimbabwean currency for U.S. dollars. Last month, the country's inflation rate was in excess of 250 percent.
The Zimbabwe central bank announced that the coins have "liquid asset status," which means they are "capable of being easily converted to cash and [are] tradable locally and internationally...[and] may also be used for transactional purposes."
But the one-ounce coins, at current prices for the commodity, are worth around $1,800, which means for most Zimbabwe citizens they are unaffordable, given the average worker and civil servant there only earns around $2,600 annually, the BBC reports.
The once-ounce coins have been called, "Mosi-oa-Tunya," or Tongan for Victoria Falls, which translates into "The Smoke Which Thunders." Banks are selling the gold coins at the world price plus a 5 percent minting and distribution fee.
"We are now providing that store of value to ensure that people do not run to the parallel market in search for foreign currency to store value," said Mangudya when the coins were first released.
"And there is no other better product that can be used to store value other than gold. We know what you have been going through in terms of the fear factor of losing value and therefore we are providing this gold coin," he added.
Zero Hedge adds:
Banks have sold 4,475 of the one-ounce coins so far, the state-affiliated Herald newspaper reports, with 90% having been purchased with local currency. Foreigners can only buy the coins with foreign money.
The proprietor of a Harare clothing shop told The Herald that black-market exchange rates have leveled out since the introduction of the coins.
"For the past one or so weeks, the rates are stable and if it continues like this, we will be able to accept local currency and invest the profits in gold coins," Sharon Sangarwe noted.
The country is also relaxing restrictions on black market currency and foreign exchange restrictions, from $500 a week to $5,000 per month, more than double.
Fortunately for Zimbabwe, the country is rich in gold deposits.
"All gold mined in Zimbabwe is supposed to be sold to the central bank, but many producers prefer to smuggle it out of the country in order to get payment in US dollars," notes a report by Al Jazeera.
Natural News founder and editor Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, noted that he believes some U.S. states could turn to issuing their own gold coins soon, even though they are not permitted to print their own currencies, as a means of battling back against the Biden deep state's attempts to crash the U.S. economy.
One state, Texas, already has substantial gold reserves and has been building on them for years.
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