of 2024 Exchange Control (General) (Amendment) Order, 2024 (No. 21)
Travellers may now leave Zimbabwe with up to US$2 000 in foreign currency, and separately up to the equivalent of US$2 000 in Zimbabwean notes and coins — the same US$2 000 ceiling applies in the departure or transit lounge.
The Reserve Bank has reset how much cash a departing traveller may carry. The maximum Zimbabwean currency in notes and coins that may be taken out of the country on your person or in your baggage is an amount equivalent to US$2 000. The maximum foreign currency is a total of US$2 000, or its equivalent in any other currency or mix of currencies.
The rule for the airport itself is rewritten to match. Without exchange control authorisation, a person about to leave Zimbabwe may hold in the departure or transit lounge up to the equivalent of US$2 000 in Zimbabwean currency, and up to a total of US$2 000 (or equivalent) in foreign currency. That closes the gap that used to open up between what you could hold airside and what you could actually export.
The order also repeals the Exchange Control (General) (Amendment) Order, 2023 (No. 20), published in S.I. 20A of 2023, which set the previous limits.
The order does not disturb the authorisation route: larger amounts still require exchange control authorisation under section 22 of the Exchange Control Regulations, 1996. It states no penalty of its own — the penalties for exceeding the limits sit in the Regulations and the Exchange Control Act.
A printing note: the running head on the gazette page reads "S.I. 142 of 2024" although this is S.I. 166 of 2024, and the catalogued title carries a stray leading "of 2024".
What changed
- Zimbabwean notes and coins that may be taken out of the country are capped at the equivalent of US$2 000
- Foreign currency that may be taken out is capped at a total of US$2 000 or its equivalent in any currency combination
- The departure and transit lounge holding limits are rewritten to the same US$2 000 ceilings for local and foreign currency
- The Exchange Control (General) (Amendment) Order, 2023 (No. 20), S.I. 20A of 2023, is repealed
Who this affects
- travellers departing from Robert Gabriel Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo international airports
- Zimbabweans in the diaspora travelling home and back
- cross-border traders carrying cash
- customs and exchange control officers at ports of exit
- airlines and ground handlers advising passengers
Plain-language summary — not legal advice. Always read the full instrument.