Zimbabwe to adopt Chinese yuan as legal tender 


Zimbabwe is to adopt the Chinese yuan as legal tender in return for debt cancellation to the tune of about 40 million dollars. 

China has become the largest investor in Zimbabwe, which has been shunned by the West over its human rights record and is struggling to emerge from a deep 1999-2008 recession that forced the government to ditch its own currency in 2009. 

Zimbabwe's Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa announced the plan in a statement saying the use of the yuan will be a function of trade between China and Zimbabwe and acceptability with customers in Zimbabwe. 

In the last five years, Zimbabwe has received more than one billion dollars in low-interest loans from China, which is Harare's second largest trading partner after South Africa.  


ALJAZEERA