| Welcome to Next Africa, a twice-weekly newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it's headed. Sign up here to have it delivered to your email. Just six months in and Zimbabwe's latest currency experiment looks like it might be going down a dead end. Almost half the value of the ZiG, short for Zimbabwe Gold, has been wiped out since its early April debut. That's left businesses and ordinary citizens counting their losses and also weighing how much longer the local currency has until the central bank retires it.  A bank customer displays ZiG coins. Photographer: Cynthia R Matonhodze/Bloomberg The central bank devalued the ZiG by 43% against the dollar on Friday. That suggests its time of reckoning has arrived, dashing Zimbabweans' hopes for currency stability. For weeks, the ZiG stacked up declines on both the official and parallel markets, rendering a pricing nightmare for businesses. In the end, even its promise of being backed by gold and foreign-currency reserves — at a time when bullion is trading at record highs and as Zimbabwe produces the metal — may not stop it from walking down the path of ruin taken by its five predecessors since 2009. The signs are ominous. Inflation is surging. There aren't enough US dollars circulating in the economy, and Zimbabwe is suffering through its worst drought in four decades. The central bank on Friday also surprised with an interest-rate hike of 35%, signaling a desperate act to save the ZiG.  John Mushayavanhu Photographer: Cynthia R Matonhodze/Bloomberg For Governor John Mushayavanhu, the latest currency turmoil rips apart his promise to be different. "Not under my watch," is how Mushayavanhu unveiled the ZiG to wary Zimbabweans — who haven't known a stable local currency for the past 15 years — while promising a fresh start. Once again, Zimbabweans find themselves in an all-too-familiar situation of watching their currency implode. Inevitably, the collapse will drive them to cling onto dollars and reject the ZiG, foiling the grand plan by authorities to finally ditch the US currency. — Ray Ndlovu Key stories and opinion:
Meet Zimbabwe's Gold-Backed Shot at a Stable Currency: QuickTake
Zimbabwe's Gold-Backed ZiG Weakens Further After Devaluation
Zimbabwe Central Bank Mulls More Measures to Protect Currency
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