In the parallel market, bond notes are trading at a discount vis-à-vis the US dollar, and electronic balances are also exchanging at a discount.
Combined with the trade controls, the discounts have led to an uptick in inflation, which has raced to its highest in October since 2008 following a surge in prices of cooking oil, flour and sugar, the statistical agency Zimstat said, as the country faces a worsening dollar shortage.
Christopher Mugaga, an economist and chief executive of the ZNCC, said the currency conundrum is a reality as we move towards 2019.
"Zimbabwe's bond note and RTGS 1:1 pegging against the US dollar is no longer sustainable. This is a confirmation that we are no longer dollarised as we were. What is now coming up is a local currency economy and we don't expect a budget below $10 billion," he said.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has reportedly stopped Ncube from scrapping the quasi currency bond note and liberalise exchange controls, but enacted tough new measures prescribing 10-year jail terms for money changers.
