- A former Zimbabwe finance minister said de-dollarization could result in an economic "disaster."
- Zimbabwe has applied to join the BRICS bank, where there's debate about moving away from the dollar.
Zimbabwe wants to join a $4 group of emerging nations — but a de-dollarization debate has started before the country's application has been approved.
Tendai Biti, a former Zimbabwe finance minister, has said there could be an economic "disaster" if the current administration of President Emmerson Mnangagwa decides to $4.
Biti wrote in an X post on Thursday that any move away from the greenback was a "zany attempt to follow the global de-dollarization agenda being pursued by #BRICS & other new world order advocates," referring to the bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
"This move will be an absolute disaster & will cost worker's & pensioners," he wrote.
—TENDAI BITI (@BitiTendai) $4
He also said Zimbabwe didn't have the economic conditions to ditch the dollar.
Biti's comments add to an intense ongoing debate over de-dollarization, as Zimbabwe has applied to join BRICS's New Development Bank. The discourse has been fanned by fears that $4 the dollar-denominated global financial system against Russia over the Ukraine war.
The discussion has been so intense that there was even talk about the possible $4 during a recent summit in August.
The meeting ended without any announcements about a common currency, and during the summit, leaders from the BRICS nations even gave contradictory statements about de-dollarization.
The BRICS bank is also starting its de-dollarization journey by $4.
Biti's views on de-dollarization also reflect local Zimbabwean concerns about its economy. $4 for years, with inflation running at $4 compared with the same month last year.
Zimbabwe's official currency is the Zimbabwe dollar, but John Mangudya, the governor of the country's central bank, told Bloomberg in July $4 was used in $4.
Zimbabwe's government $4. Mnangagwa said at the time that the country's economy was "at the mercy of US dollar pricing, which has been a root cause of inflation," $4.
The country was forced, however, to reverse the ban in June 2022 to rein in inflation.
As talk about de-dollarization rages on in emerging economies — including Zimbabwe — locals are concerned about its spillover into their lives.
"The US dollar has given us our life back. We can't do without it," Lovemore Mutenha, a liquor-store owner in Zimbabwe, told the $4. "How can one budget with the Zimbabwe dollar that is always changing in value? It is not stable, and we have been burned before."
Representatives for Biti, Zimbabwe's central bank, and BRICS's New Development Bank did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider.