HARARE: Just a week after Zimbabwe got a new currency when the government lopped 10 zeros off banknotes to counter hyperinflation, a drastic shortage of cash has led to shops and businesses using petrol coupons as an alternative currency.

It also has counterfeiters switching from forging banknotes that cost as much to produce as they are worth to the far more lucrative business of turning out the GBP20 coupons that can be exchanged for a precious 20 litres of petrol.

The new bank currency has lost more than half its value in a week on the black market. There is a desperate shortage of the notes, which were printed last year and are dated 2007 but remained in storage because their face value was wiped out until the central bank removed the zeros.

The government is unable to print significant numbers of additional notes, in part because its supply of banknote paper has been cut off by its German supplier.

The situation has left businesses, which are barred from dealing in foreign currency, scrambling for an alternative and petrol coupons are suddenly in demand for more than fuel.

In Harare, Western Union, which handles many of the hard currency transfers into the country by Zimbabweans living abroad, said it could no longer pay out in local currency because of the banknote shortage. Instead, it is handing over the 20-litre coupons, which are practically the only way to obtain clean fuel.

A prominent Harare auction house, Hammer and Tongues, followed suit by announcing the first “auction by barter”. Bidders will pay in petrol coupons for cars, art and furniture that come under the hammer. “Home-grown solutions for Zimbabweans. Now we are selling in litres not in dollars,” the auction house said.

John Robertson, a prominent Harare economist, said: “It’s a significant development. Money loses value here very fast but the coupons represent a physical quantity of fuel. It’s a stable medium of exchange.”

Robertson said that the coupons were now being forged. “These have been widely used enough for people to say we can print these and counterfeit petrol coupons have appeared. They don’t carry hologram images or special security strips. They’re easier to forge than real money and they’re worth more,” he said.

Coins discarded years ago as they became worthless have been put back into circulation thanks to the striking of the zeros from the currency. Shop owners are now having to deal with customers paying by the bagload of silver.

The central bank removed the 10 zeros because the software used by banks and businesses was struggling with the numbers. But Robertson said the move was unlikely to ease the crisis. “Not a thing has changed. The removal of the zeros is cosmetic. The government is continuing to print money, not physically because it can’t, but figuratively by adding zeros to its bank balances so it can pay its workers.”—Dawn/The Guardian News Service