Almost a year after it suspended the use of foreign currencies, the government of Zimbabwe has now allowed citizens to carry out domestic transactions in US dollars to mitigate the impacts of the current covid-19 pandemic on the economy.

Zimbabwe announced the introduction of an electronic forex trading platform based on the Reuters system, to allow foreign exchange to be traded freely amongst the banks and permit a true market exchange rate to be determined.

Zimbabwe will introduce a new currency in the next 12 months, the finance minister said, as a shortage of US dollars has plunged the financial system into disarray and forced businesses to close. 

Zimbabwe's cotton output in the 2018 marketing season rose by 76 percent year-on-year to 130,000 tonnes, from 70,000 tonnes last year, owing to increased government support to farmers, according to a local online publication.The output is the highest in nearly five years, Farmers Voice said in its latest edition published Tuesday.