Title: ZWD (Zimbabwe Dollar) Definition
Headings: ZWD (Zimbabwe Dollar)
ZWD (Zimbabwe Dollar)
What Was the ZWD (Zimbabwe Dollar)?
Key Takeaways
Understanding the Zimbabwe Dollar
98%
Zimbabwe's Hyperinflation
Death of the Ailing Zimbabwe Dollar

Content: This initial cost-push inflation would be worsened by the government’s decision, in 2000, to follow through with its land reform initiative to compulsorily acquire white-owned commercial farms. This redistribution created such upheaval on the farms that agricultural production fell dramatically in just a few years. In turn, this supply shock pushed prices higher, motivating a newly-appointed central bank governor to name inflation as Zimbabwe's number one enemy in 2004. While successful in decelerating inflation, a tighter monetary policy put pressures on both banks and domestic producers, threatening to completely destabilize the financial system and wider economy. Zimbabwe's central bank was forced to engage in quasi-fiscal policies to mitigate the destabilizing effects of the tighter monetary policy, which in turn served to undo any previous anti-inflationary successes by creating a demand-pull style of inflation that escalated into hyperinflation beginning in 2007. This hyperinflation remained in Zimbabwe until foreign currency use as a medium of exchange became predominant. Death of the Ailing Zimbabwe Dollar
After years of hyperinflation, the government of Zimbabwe announced the demonetization of the ZWD in 2009 which became final in 2015. Demonetization is the process of officially removing the legal status of a currency unit. Also in 2009, the government legalized the use of foreign currencies and abandoned the use of the ZWD in April. The country would gradually transition from the ZWD to the use of multiple currency systems over the next few years including the Botswana Pula (BWP), Indian rupee (INR), euro (EUR), U.S. dollar (USD), and South African Rand (ZAR).