Zimbabwe CBDC Tracker

CBDC Information

CBDC Status

Research

Economic Information

GDP

$20,678,055,598

Population

16,665,409

Government Information

Form of Government

Electoral Autocracy

Rule Of Law

3.69/10

Freedom Rankings

Cato and Fraser Human Freedom Index:

4.87/10

Freedom House Index:

2.7/10

Reporters Without Borders Freedom Index:

5.03/10

Zimbabwe is currently in the research phase. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe posted on X that it was conducting a consumer survey on CBDC.

CBDC History and Development

In November 2022, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe posted on X that it was conducting a consumer survey on CBDC. The central bank wrote, “As part of efforts to explore Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the Bank is conducting a Consumer Survey on CBDC. Your response is important.” The survey was available until December 7, 2022.

Human Rights and Civil Liberties Concerns

Zimbabwe earned a 28 out of 100 in Freedom House’s 2023 Freedom in the World report. As Freedom House noted in the report, surveillance and corruption are issues for Zimbabwe. The issuance or adoption of a CBDC in Zimbabwe could worsen these issues.

“[O]fficial surveillance of political activity is a deterrent to unfettered speech,” according to Freedom House. “Individuals have been arrested for critical posts on social media, prompting self-censorship online.” Unfortunately, a CBDC could be used to greatly expand surveillance by putting financial records on government databases by default.

“Corruption is endemic, and past revelations of large-scale graft did not lead to successful prosecutions,” according to Freedom House. “Corruption [also] features heavily in the government’s tender system.” The existence of pervasive corruption is a major concern with CBDCs because it calls into question any promises that might be made by the government to limit surveillance, control, or other risks of CBDCs. Furthermore, the existence of corruption calls into question whether CBDC policies might be designed to exert political favoritism through subsidies, price controls, or other targeted restrictions.

For additional information on concerns regarding violations of human rights and civil liberties, see the following reports by Amnesty International, Financial Tyranny Index, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, Privacy International, and the U.S. Department of State. For additional information on concerns regarding the risks of CBDCs, see the following webpage and report by the Cato Institute: The Risks of CBDCs and Central Bank Digital Currency: Assessing the Risks and Dispelling the Myths.

For additional information regarding metrics, the methodology page explains each of the data points and provides their respective sources.