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Africa

Zimbabwe issues its own currency called bond notes

Associated Press
Published | Updated
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    Zimbabweans compare the new note with the US dollar note following the introduction of new notes by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in Harare, Monday, Nov, 28, 2016. The Southern African nation has rolled out a new currency for the first time since 2009 in hopes of easing biting shortages of the US dollar. Banks across the country started issuing the new currency called bond notes, Monday. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) (The Associated Press)

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    A man shows a new note introduced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in Harare, Monday, Nov, 28, 2016. Zimbabwe has rolled out a new currency for the first time since 2009 in hopes of easing biting shortages of the US dollar. Banks across the country started issuing the new currency called bond notes, Monday(AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) (The Associated Press)

  • ca3e2df2-
    Image 3 of 3

    A man shows the new notes introduced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in Harare, Monday, Nov, 28, 2016. Zimbabwe has rolled out a new currency for the first time since 2009 in hopes of easing biting shortages of the US dollar. Banks across the country started issuing the new currency called bond notes, Monday. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) (The Associated Press)

HARARE, Zimbabwe – Zimbabwe has issued its own currency for the first time since 2009 to try to ease biting shortages of the U.S dollar.

Banks started issuing the new currency, called bond notes, Monday. Previously the U.S currency had been Zimbabwe's main medium of trade.

The new bond notes sparked a mix of hope and apprehension among a population desperate for a solution to the country's cash crisis but also skeptical of the ability of President Robert Mugabe's government to manage a currency.

In 2008 and 2009 the state's central bank printed so much of its currency, the Zimbabwe dollar, that the country experienced mind-boggling hyperinflation that reached 500 billion percent, according to the International Monetary Fund. The inflation was only brought under control when the government abandoned the Zimbabwe currency.