Zimbabwe releases 29 mln bond notes since introduction: central bank

Zimbabwe has so far released bond notes worth 29 million U.S. dollars into the market since their introduction on Nov. 28, the country's central bank said Tuesday.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said in a statement that it was pleased with the smooth circulation of the notes.

It also doubled daily withdrawal limit of the notes to 100 per day or 300 per week to make it easy for the public to transact during the festive season.

The central bank said all tobacco growers who sold their tobacco this year had now been paid 5 percent of their export incentive through the bond notes.

The bond notes, backed by a 200-million-U.S.-dollar facility from African Export-Import Bank, were introduced to address cash shortages which began early this year.

They are trading at par with the U.S. dollar, the main currency circulating in the economy after the country adopted multiple currencies in 2009.

The central bank said a total of 6.2 million bond notes had so far been deposited by the public at banks as at Dec. 16, adding that the notes would go a long way in mitigating the cash shortages.

"Bond notes shall fortuitously and subserviently go a long way to mitigate cash shortages within the economy. Clearing of cash queues at banks can never be an overnight event. It is a process," the central bank said. Endit