“The Western powers have met their match in Putin, who is demanding payment for gas and oil in rubles,” Mnangagwa said last month. “So now, we are saying to our industrialists, all these big companies, any investor that comes in here must buy using the Zimbabwean dollar.”
“What’s different from other announcements in the past is that we had not seen the Executive weighing in,” Gwanyanya said. “We have buy-in from the Executive on all the issues.”
Central bank Governor John Mangudya didn’t answer a call seeking comment on his mobile phone on Sunday.
Mnangagwa in an opinion article published on Sunday in state-media said the looming measures will “increase confidence in the local unit.”