ZiG records its largest decline since trading began on April 

Zimbabwe’s gold-backed ZiG currency has weakened to its lowest level against the US dollar since it was launched a month ago.

The currency is trading at 13.67 to the dollar, according to data posted Monday on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s website, a decline of 0.8% from its first day of trading at 13.56 per dollar on April 8.

The ZiG, short for Zimbabwe Gold, is the southern African nation’s sixth attempt to deliver a functioning local currency since 2008. It is backed by 2.5 tons of gold and $100 million in foreign currency reserves held by the central bank. Authorities want to seek full convertibility of the unit at some stage to further boost its appeal, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said in a May 2 interview.