Germany refuses to print new bond notes for Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is scrambling to find someone to print the country’s new bond notes after a German company rejected a request to help. The Zimbabwe Independent reported on Friday that the cash-strapped Treasury was turning to neighbouring countries‚ such as South Africa‚ for help.The controversial new surrogate currency was due to be introduced in November.Giesecke and Devrient‚ a German company which prints banknotes‚ previously printed the Zimbabwe dollar.“According to information that we have from the said company‚ it will not print bond notes for the government of Zimbabwe. Other than that‚ I cannot say more‚” an official from the German embassy told The Zimbabwe Independent.Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya said: “Please kindly be advised and satisfied that the bond notes are being printed out of Zimbabwe.”The reserve bank’s head of exchange control told delegates attending a Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe conference in May that the new bond notes would be printed abroad.“The printing of bond notes is being done by the Germans. The Germans who printed the South African rand which we recently impounded at Harare International Airport and later released are the ones printing the notes.“The Germans are being asked to print US$200-million worth of notes‚” he said...
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