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A30 world news
Diamars 26 Juli 2022

Zimbabwe debuts gold coins as legal tender to stem inflation

according to the governor of the Re- and will be tradable locally and in-
serve Bank of Zimbabwe, John Man- ternationally. The coin may also be
gudya. used for transactional purposes,” said
the central bank. People holding the
The coins can be used for purchases coins can only trade them for cash af-
in shops, depending on whether the ter 180 days from the date of buying,
shop has enough change, he said. the bank said.

“The government is trying to mod- The coins, each weighing one troy
erate the very high demand for the ounce with a purity of 22 carats, can
U.S. dollar because this high demand also be used as security for loans and
is not being matched by supply,” said credit facilities, said the central bank.
Zimbabwean economist Prosper The price of the coins will be deter-
Chitambara. mined by the international market
rate for an ounce of gold, plus 5% for
“The expectation is that ... there will the cost of producing the coin. At the
also be moderation in terms of the time of the launch Monday, the cost
depreciation of the local currency, of Mosi oa Tunya coin was $1,824.
which should have some kind of sta-
bilizing effect in terms of pricing of Internationally, gold coins are used in
(AP) — Zimbabwe has launched IMF. goods,” he said. countries such as China, South Africa
gold coins to be sold to the public and Australia to hedge against infla-
in a bid to tame runaway infla- With strong memories of that disas- Any individual or company can buy tion and as an investment opportu-
tion that has further eroded the trous inflation, many Zimbabweans the coins from authorized outlets nity, although they are not as widely
country’s unstable currency. today prefer to scramble on the ille- such as banks and can keep the coins used as currency as envisaged by
gal market for scarce U.S. dollars to at a bank or take them home, ac- Zimbabwe’s central bank, said Chit-
The unprecedented move was an- keep at home as savings or for daily cording to an announcement by the ambara.
nounced Monday by the country’s transactions. Faith in Zimbabwe’s country’s central bank. Foreigners
central bank, the Reserve Bank of currency is already so low that many can only buy the coins in foreign cur- “For Zimbabwe we are in chronic hy-
Zimbabwe, to boost confidence in retailers don’t accept it. rency, said the central bank. perinflation so the expectation is that
the local currency. there will be a huge uptake of these
The central bank disbursed 2,000 Called Mosi-oa-Tunya, which in the gold coins,” he said. However, most
Trust in Zimbabwe’s currency is low coins to commercial banks on Mon- local Tonga language refers to Victo- Zimbabweans struggle with daily
after people saw their savings wiped day. The first batch of the coins was ria Falls, the coins “will have liquid survival and won’t be able to buy
out by hyperinflation in 2008 which minted outside the country but even- asset status, that is, it will be capable them, he said.
reached 5 billion%, according to the tually they will be produced locally, of being easily converted to cash,

Mideast nations wake up to damage from climate change

(AP) — Temperatures in region. Governments across lions of people as the rise in its GDP by 2050 because of drought in 900 years, accord-
the Middle East have risen the Middle East have awak- temperatures accelerates: water scarcity, according to ing to NASA, a heavy blow
far faster than the world’s ened to the dangers of cli- The region already has high the World Bank. to countries like Syria and
average in the past three mate change, particularly to temperatures and limited wa- Lebanon where agriculture
decades. Precipitation the damage it is already in- ter resources even in normal In Egypt, precipitation has relies on rainfall. Demand for
has been decreasing, and flicting on their economies. circumstances. fallen 22% in the past 30 water in Jordan and the Per-
experts predict droughts years, according to the World sian Gulf countries is putting
will come with greater “We’re literally seeing the ef- Middle East governments Bank. unsustainable pressure on
frequency and severity. fects right in front of us. ... also have a limited ability to underground water aquifers.
These impacts are not some- adapt, the International Mon- Droughts are expected to In Iraq, the increased arid-
The Middle East is one of thing that will hit us nine or etary Fund noted in a report become more frequent and ity has caused an increase in
the most vulnerable regions 10 years down the line,” said earlier this year. Economies severe. The Eastern Mediter- sandstorms.
in the world to the impact of Lama El Hatow, an environ- and infrastructure are weak, ranean recently saw its worst
climate change — and already mental climate change con- and regulations are often
the effects are being seen. sultant who has worked with unenforced. Poverty is wide-
the World Bank and special- spread, making job creation a
In Iraq, intensified sand- izes on the Middle East and priority over climate protec-
storms have repeatedly North Africa. tion. Autocratic governments
smothered cities this year, like Egypt’s severely restrict
shutting down commerce “More and more states are civil society, hampering an
and sending thousands to starting to understand that important tool in engaging
hospitals. Rising soil salinity it’s necessary” to act, she said. the public on environmental
in Egypt’s Nile Delta is eat- and climate issues.
ing away at crucial farmland. Egypt, Morocco and other
In Afghanistan, drought has countries in the region have At the same time, develop-
helped fuel the migration of been stepping up initiatives ing nations are pressuring
young people from their vil- for clean energy. But a top countries in the Mideast and
lages, searching for jobs. In priority for them at COP-27 elsewhere to make emissions
recent weeks, temperatures is to push for more interna- cuts, even as they themselves
in some parts of the region tional funding to help them backslide on promises.
have topped 50 degrees Cel- deal with the dangers they are The threats are dire.
sius (122 Fahrenheit). already facing from climate
change. As the region grows hotter
This year’s annual U.N. cli- and drier, the United Nations
mate change conference, One reason for the Middle has warned that the Mideast’s
known as COP27, is being East’s vulnerability is that crop production could drop
held in Egypt in November, there is simply no margin 30% by 2025. The region is
throwing a spotlight on the to cushion the blow on mil- expected to lose 6%-14% of