Zimbabwe shelves own currency for a year :
Sun Apr 12, 2009 12:00pm BST

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe will not use its own local currency for at least
a year, a state newspaper reported on Sunday, while it tries to repair an
economy which critics say was destroyed by President Robert Mugabe.

The southern African state has allowed the use of multiple foreign
currencies since January to stem hyperinflation which had rocketed to over
230 million percent and left the Zimbabwe dollar almost worthless.

The state-controlled Sunday Mail said the unity government of Mugabe and
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai decided the Zimbabwe dollar should only
be reintroduced when industrial output reaches about 60 percent of capacity
from the current 20 percent average.

"The Zimbabwe dollar will be out for at least a year. We resolved that there
will be no immediate plans to (re)introduce the money because there is
nothing to support and hold its value," the newspaper quoted Economic
Planning and Development Minister Elton Mangoma as saying.

"Our focus is to first ensure that we have a vibrant industry. If we try to
reintroduce the local currency now, it will face the same fate of being
wiped out of its value within weeks."

On Thursday, Zimbabwe's Central Statistical Office (CSO) said consumer
prices fell for a third straight month in March after the government
abandoned its worthless currency.

The CSO said inflation stood at -3.0 percent month-on-month in March
compared with -3.1 percent in February, as food prices fell.

Critics say Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in
1980, has destroyed one of Africa's most promising economies through
controversial policies, including the seizure of white-owned commercial
farms for redistribution to inexperienced black farmers.

Mugabe, 85, denies the charge and says the economy has been sabotaged by
enemies opposed to his nationalist policies.

Zimbabwe is seeking an urgent cash injection of $2 billion to stabilise an
economy suffering unemployment above 90 percent and a severe shortage of
foreign currency.

Western donors have held back aid, demanding the unity government in which
Tsvangirai is the prime minister undertakes political and other reforms.

(Reporting by Cris Chinaka; Editing by Sophie Hares)