Zimbabweans mend shabby dollar notes amid economic crisisOne dollar bills are king in Zimbabwe, beset by a worsening economic crisis, as shoppers rely on them to buy their daily bread and other small purchases
November 13, 2020, 4:30 PM
5 min read
Share to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this articleHARARE, Zimbabwe -- Albert Marombe takes a grimy, tattered $1 note and delicately, expertly glues it back into one piece, holding it up for inspection.
“I don’t care how torn it is. All I want to see is the serial number being visible on both sides,” said Marombe. He'll sell that shabby $1 note for 80 cents and it will get back into circulation. Many shops will reject it but market traders will take it, although at a reduced value.
Worn out or shredded by rats, $1 notes are king in Zimbabwe, beset by a continuing economic crisis. One dollar bills are used by many people to buy their daily bread and other small purchases. Crisp new notes are not coming into Zimbabwe, so enterprising traders are repairing old ones for desperate customers.
Formal businesses reject such notes, forcing people to sell them to traders like Marombe for a fraction of their original value. Informal street markets will usually - with some negotiation - accept the glue-patched notes that Marombe sells for transactions. Zimbabwe's booming informal economy employs about two-thirds of the population, according to the International Monetary Fund, so there are lots of such dirty dollars in circulation.
The U.S dollar has dominated transactions in Zimbabwe since the country’s hyperinflation soared to more than 5 billion percent and forced the government to abandon the local currency in 2009.
Last year the government re-introduced a Zimbabwe currency and banned foreign currencies for local transactions. Few took heed though and the black market thrived, while the local currency quickly devalued. In March this year, the government relented and unbanned the dollar. Now shortages of small denominations of the dollar are a nightmare.
The once-prosperous southern African country’s economy is so weak from de-industrialization, low investment, low exports and high debt that it does not generate an adequate inflow of fresh greenbacks needed for its largely dollarized local economy, Harare-based economist John Robertson said.
“If people do have a small denomination in U.S. dollars they don’t want to put those in the bank. They want to keep it to themselves,” said Robertson, explaining that banks generally do not pay account holders in cash.
Larger denominations are too big for many purchases. Traders such as Marombe fill the gap by patching up torn dollar bills of many denominations, but the $1 note is their main business.
“I am here by 6 a.m. daily and leave late … business is good. I am surviving,” said Marombe, popularly called “the money sanitizer” by other market traders.
He said he buys the $1 notes for between 40 cents and 60 cents each, depending on their condition, and sells them at a profit.
Marombe, 38, sold second-hand clothes until six months ago when he saw the opportunity to make money by patching up old dollar bills and selling them at a profit. He's making enough to support his pregnant wife and two children, including one who is a teenager and writing final year secondary examinations this year.
