Zimbabwe will re-denominate its currency by removing 10 zeros from August 1st, central bank Governor Gideon Gono said today.
"The Zimbabwe dollar will be redenominated by a factor of one to 10, which means we are removing ten zeros from our monetary value. Ten billion (Zimbabwean) dollars today will be reduced to one dollar with effective from August 1st," Mr Gono said in a television broadcast.
"The new currency will co-circulate together with the family of bearer cheques ... which shall cease to be legal tender on the 31st of December 2008," Mr Gono said.
South African President Thabo Mbeki reiterated today that crisis talks between Zimbabwe's political rivals were going well and said negotiations would resume on Sunday.
"It is work in progress. The negotiators are working hard and have committed themselves to the time-frame. They will resume on Sunday," he told reporters after an hour-long meeting with Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe in Harare.
Mr Mbeki has been mediating between Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change since last year.