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| Africa Subsaharan | ||
| Zimbabwe Makes Chinese Yuan Legal Tender | ||
| 2015-12-24 | ||
Zimbabwe is adding the Chinese yuan to its list of acceptable currencies after Beijing agreed to cancel $40 million of debts owed by the southern African country, AFP reported.
The southern African nation is heavily dependent on Chinese investment and shares a close relationship with Beijing. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in Harare in December, prior to a regional summit in South Africa, overseeing the signing of 10 agreements between the two countries, including more than $1 billion of Chinese investment in Zimbabwe’s largest thermal-power station. China is one of Zimbabwe’s main trading partners: in 2014, China was Zimbabwe’s main export destination, with more than a quarter of exports heading to Beijing, while 8.8 percent of Zimbabwean imports came from China, second only to neighboring South Africa. Zimbabwe has run a multi-currency economy since abandoning its own dollar in 2009 due to hyperinflation and already uses foreign currencies including the U.S. dollar, the South African rand and the Botswanan pula. The Chinese currency is not currently approved for public transactions in Zimbabwe; Chinamasa said that use of the yuan “will be a function of trade between China and Zimbabwe and acceptability with customers in Zimbabwe,” according to AFP. Mugabe, who has been president of Zimbabwe for more than 35 years, adopted a pro-Beijing trade policy after his country was isolated by former Western trading partners over alleged human-rights abuses. The veteran Zimbabwean leader was awarded China’s Confucius Peace Prize—an award not affiliated to the government in Beijing but which has been dubbed as China’s version of the Nobel Peace Prize—in October for “injecting fresh energy” into efforts for world peace and African unity.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 Nothing says 'stable, world-class currency' quite like an official endorsement from Zimbabwe! |
| Posted by: Raj 2015-12-24 11:22 |
| #3 Whenever I new colonialism in Africa---this time by the Chinese---I immediately think---Chinese don't need locals for labor. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-12-24 06:07 |
| #2 A quote from the introduction of Herman J. Cohen's The Mind of the African Strongman. Listening to Africa's founding fathers, as I have over thirty eight years, the dominant message is clear. "Our peoples are immature. They are not ready to be given responsibility for our nations' economic progress. We need to provide close guidance and exercise control." In short, sub-Saharan Africa has been, and to a great extent continues to be, a prisoner of its cultural history. Nothing says control like marching arm-in-arm with the Communist Chinese. I would suggest however, that Cohen's observations are in no way the exclusive domain of the sub-Saharan political elite. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2015-12-24 03:11 |
| #1 Makes sense since most Rhodesians are using the local currency to wipe their butts. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2015-12-24 00:09 |