Zimbabwe to discuss rand union - industry minister

By Carolyn Cohn

LONDON (Reuters) - Zimbabwe will look into the possibility of joining rand monetary union as an alternative to the country's existing multiple currency regime, Zimbabwe's industry and commerce minister Welshman Ncube said on Tuesday.

"We cannot re-enter the Zimbabwe dollar without the economy to support that, we need another solution. We cannot continue forever with multiple currencies," Ncube told an Africa forum here.

"If we can at least join rand monetary union, we will have money allocated to Zimbabwe through that system. No decision has been made, we will debate it and see what the best alternative is."

Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho all use the South African rand alongside their own currencies.

Ncube did not clarify if Zimbabwe planned to join rand monetary union before or simultaneously with bringing back the Zimbabwe dollar.

President Robert Mugabe has said Zimbabwe may revive the use of its own currency because the U.S. dollar was unavailable to a majority of people in the countryside, but Finance Minister Tendai Biti told Reuters on Monday that a return to the Zimbabwe dollar was a "very long way" off.

Zimbabwe has allowed the use of multiple foreign currencies since January to stem hyperinflation which left the Zimbabwe dollar almost worthless in the midst of a severe economic crisis.

Ncube said the finance minister's mid-term monetary review, due on July 14, would include a report on the implications of joining rand monetary union.