Zimbabwean bond coins


The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe began to release Zimbabwean bond coins on 18 December 2014. The coins were supported by a US$50 million facility extended to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe by Afreximbank. To date coins worth US$15 million have been struck out of the total $50 million available. The coins were first issued in denominations of 1, 5, 10, and 25 cents and are pegged to the corresponding values in U.S. dollars. A 50 cents bond coin was released in March 2015.
The coins were issued to remedy a lack of small change resulting from the absence of a solid seigniorage contract with the U.S., South Africa or any of several other countries whose currencies, including the U.S. dollar and the euro, are being used in the multi-currency system that arose in 2009, when Zimbabwe abandoned the Zimbabwean dollar in response to several cycles of hyperinflation. The Zimbabwean economy being too frail and small to pay the interest which would come with a seigniorage contract, the country chose instead to implement a multi-currency environment based on the U.S. dollar. However, this arrangement has meant a shortage of small change in coins.
Public reaction to the bond coins has been extremely skeptical, with widespread fear that they are the government's first step to reintroducing an unreliable Zimbabwean dollar. John Mangudya, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, had denied that the Zimbabwean dollar was being reintroduced.
The bond coins, struck at the South African Mint in Pretoria, were the first Zimbabwean coins since 2003.
A bimetallic one-dollar bond coin was released on 28 November 2016 along with two- and five-dollar Zimbabwean bond notes. A bimetallic two-dollar bond coin was released in 2019, and circulates with its equivalent banknote in circulation.

Coins in Circulation

DenominationYearObverseReverseWeightDiameterMaterial
1 Cent Bond Coin2014RBZ in various positions with coin date centeredEnclosed in circle with "1" surrounded by "ONE CENT BOND COIN"2.45 g17 mmCopper-plated steel
5 Cents Bond Coin2014RBZ in various positions with coin date centeredEnclosed in circle with "5" surrounded by "FIVE CENTS BOND COIN"2.85 g18 mmBrass-plated steel
10 Cents Bond Coin2014RBZ in various positions with coin date centeredEnclosed in circle with "10" surrounded by "TEN CENTS BOND COIN"3.80 g20 mmBrass-plated steel
25 Cents Bond Coin2014RBZ in various positions with coin date centeredEnclosed in circle with "25" surrounded by "TWENTY-FIVE CENTS BOND COIN"4.80 g23 mmNickel-plated steel
50 Cents Bond Coin2014RBZ in various positions with coin date centeredEnclosed in circle with "50" surrounded by "FIFTY CENTS BOND COIN"6.00 g25 mmNickel-plated steel
1 Dollar Bond Coin2016RBZ in various positions with coin date centeredEnclosed in circle with "1$" surrounded by "ONE DOLLAR BOND COIN"9.06 g28 mmBrass ring with a nickel-plated steel center plug
2 Dollars Bond Coin2018RBZ in various positions with coin date centeredEnclosed in circle with "2$" surrounded by "TWO DOLLAR BOND COIN"11.11 g28 mmCupronickel ring with an Aluminum-bronze center plug

Bond coins and the RTGS dollar

In February 2019, the RBZ Governor, announced that the bond coins would be part of the "values" that make up the new currency to be added into the Zimbabwean market, the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) dollar.