The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has said the ‘RTGS dollar’ will initially start trading at a floating exchange rate 2.5 to the United States dollar.

This comes after the move by the country’s apex bank to (RBZ) to float the currency on Wednesday.

Announcing the Monetary Policy statement, RBZ governor Dr John Mangudya announced the introduction of an inter-bank foreign exchange market.

The central bank floated the exchange rate on Wednesday, via its first half monetary policy statement, through the introduction of an inter-bank foreign exchange market which officially became operational today.

Said Dr Mangudya this morning:

“After working with dealers from the banks, we think that the rate will open at 2.5 and we hope thereafter it will continue to float.”

At 2.5 , the official rate is discounted compared to illegal market rate where buyers are offering around $4 per US dollar.