Zimbabwe is exploring a real-time payments system with NPCI International Payments to make the ZiG easier to use, but better technology cannot by itself overcome the distrust built by years of currency crises.
Zimbabwe’s latest effort to stabilise its money supply is now tied to a digital bet. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is in talks with NPCI International Payments, the overseas arm of the group behind India’s instant-payment network, over a real-time system that could make transactions in ZiG faster, cheaper and easier to use. The goal is straightforward: help the gold-backed currency launched in April 2024 gain traction alongside the US dollar.
That does not mean technology alone will restore confidence. The argument advanced in the Moneyweb-published analysis is that payment rails can make a local currency more convenient, but they cannot create trust where it is lacking. In Zimbabwe’s case, that distinction matters because the country has spent years battling repeated currency breakdowns, inflation shocks and public scepticism about official money.
The history weighs heavily. Zimbabwe’s monetary troubles culminated in hyperinflation in 2008, when annual inflation reached 231 million per cent, forcing the abandonment of the Zimbabwe dollar the following year. A later attempt to substitute bond notes for hard currency failed to hold its value. Then, in 2019, foreign-currency balances were converted into a new local unit, only for inflation to surge above 500 per cent in 2020. Those episodes left households and firms inclined to keep savings in dollars rather than risk another collapse in the local unit.
The ZiG has faced doubts from the outset. The Reserve Bank devalued it by 43 per cent in September 2024, and despite being used for some taxes and government payments, it did not win broad voluntary acceptance. More recent figures suggest inflation has eased, with annual ZiG inflation falling to 2.9 per cent in August 2026 before edging up to 3.7 per cent in September, while dollar inflation also inched higher. Even so, foreign reserves were still only about US$2 billion at the end of September, equivalent to roughly two months of import cover, below the central bank’s own target range.
That is why the proposed payments system is being presented not as a cure, but as a tool. The article argues that Zimbabwe must keep control of the infrastructure and avoid locking itself into a foreign provider. It also says users should retain genuine choice between ZiG and dollars, with fees and exchange rates made transparent and no hidden conversion of balances. A comparison with Cambodia’s Bakong system suggests that digital payments can help a local currency become easier to use without forcing people into it, while Namibia’s early work with the same Indian technology shows how such systems are being adapted elsewhere in Africa. The central point remains the same: convenience can support credibility, but it cannot substitute for disciplined fiscal policy, an independent central bank and a currency that people believe will hold its value.
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