The United States Embassy in Harare says all US dollar notes including soiled and damaged ones remain legal tender following complaints that businesses were rejecting them.
In a statement, the US Embassy said all notes remain legal tender unless advised by the Federal Reserve.
“US government policy is that all designs of US Federal Reserve notes remain legal tender or legally valid for payments, regardless of when they were issued. This policy includes all denominations of Federal Reserve notes from 1914 to present,” the Embassy said.
Illegal money changers are making a killing by exchanging old and torn US notes for a fee, while some shops totally reject them or undercut their value.
Any badly soiled, dirty, defaced, disintegrated, limp, torn or worn out currency note that is not mutilated and does not require special examination to determine its value, is considered legal tender by the US government.
The Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (VISET) director, Samuel Wadzai welcomed the clarification by the US Embassy.
“We welcome the clarification because there was a lot of confusion in the market and we hope this will help ensure certainty. We urge our members not to reject the notes. It’s not our money,” Wadzai said.
