Zimbabwe’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at its first policy meeting since unveiling the gold-backed currency, the ZiG.
The monetary policy committee held the rate at 20% after receiving positive market reaction to the new currency, Governor John Mushayavanhu said in a statement.
The MPC expects the currency reforms to help provide “stability, certainty and predictability in the exchange rate and inflation,” he said.
The MPC also set the interest rate corridor at between 11% to 25%, Mushayavanhu said.
The southern African nation introduced ZiG, short for Zimbabwe Gold on April 5. The currency is backed by 2.5 tons of gold and $100 million in foreign currency reserves held by the central bank.
On the same day, the central bank reset interest rates from 130%, a world record, to 20%.