Zimbabwe Shelves US Dollar Phase-Out Amid Inflation Concerns

Zimbabwe's government has delayed its plan to phase out the US dollar in favor of its gold-backed ZiG currency, citing the need for inflation to stabilize and exchange rates to hold steady.

The target for making ZiG the sole legal tender is now roughly 2030, a far cry from the original ambition to ditch the dollar by 2025.

Launched in April 2024 with $285 million in assets backing it, the Zimbabwe Gold currency or ZiG has shown promise but still faces significant hurdles. Annual inflation fell to 3.2% in July 2026, down from 4.7% in June, but convincing a population to abandon the world's reserve currency for a gold-backed token issued by the same institution that presided over 2008's hyperinflation is no easy task.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has rolled out redesigned higher-denomination ZiG banknotes and a digital token, but new regulations requiring virtual asset service providers to register with the Financial Intelligence Unit may be too little, too late. With stability required to make ZiG viable, the risk for the currency is that it becomes just as unattractive as any other government-issued alternative.