BRICS's messaging about de-dollarization could get even messier if Zimbabwe joins the group's bank

• A former Zimbabwe finance minister said de-dollarization could result in an economic "disaster."
• Zimbabwe has applied to join the BRICS bank, where there's debate about moving away from the dollar.

Zimbabwe wants to join a bank founded by the BRICS group of emerging nations — but a de-dollarization debate has started before the country's application has been approved.

Tendai Biti, a former Zimbabwe finance minister, has said there could be an economic "disaster" if the current administration of President Emmerson Mnangagwa decides to ditch the dollar.

Biti wrote in an X post on Thursday that any move away from the greenback was a "zany attempt to follow the global de-dollarization agenda being pursued by #BRICS & other new world order advocates," referring to the bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

"This move will be an absolute disaster & will cost worker's & pensioners," he wrote.

He also said Zimbabwe didn't have the economic conditions to ditch the dollar.

Biti's comments add to an intense ongoing debate over de-dollarization, as Zimbabwe has applied to join BRICS's New Development Bank. The discourse has been fanned by fears that Washington is weaponizing the dollar-denominated global financial system against Russia over the Ukraine war.

The discussion has been so intense that there was even talk about the possible creation of a common BRICS currency during a recent summit in August.

The meeting ended without any announcements about a common currency, and during the summit, leaders from the BRICS nations even gave contradictory statements about de-dollarization.

The BRICS bank is also starting its de-dollarization journey by increasing lending in local member currencies.

Biti's views on de-dollarization also reflect local Zimbabwean concerns about its economy. Zimbabwe has been in an economic crisis for years, with inflation running at 101.3% in July compared with the same month last year.

Zimbabwe's official currency is the Zimbabwe dollar, but John Mangudya, the governor of the country's central bank, told Bloomberg in July the US dollar was used in 75% of all transactions in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe's government banned the use of foreign currencies as legal tender in 2019. Mnangagwa said at the time that the country's economy was "at the mercy of US dollar pricing, which has been a root cause of inflation," the BBC reported.

The country was forced, however, to reverse the ban in June 2022 to rein in inflation.

As talk about de-dollarization rages on in emerging economies — including Zimbabwe — locals are concerned about its spillover into their lives.

"The US dollar has given us our life back. We can't do without it," Lovemore Mutenha, a liquor-store owner in Zimbabwe, told the Associated Press in August. "How can one budget with the Zimbabwe dollar that is always changing in value? It is not stable, and we have been burned before."

Representatives for Biti, Zimbabwe's central bank, and BRICS's New Development Bank did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider.