On 12 November 2019, people queued at a bank in Harare to withdraw newly issued Zimbabwe dollar notes. Xinhua's photographic record identifies the line directly. The first release consisted of a two-dollar coin and two- and five-dollar notes, distributed gradually through commercial banks.
Zimbabwe had abandoned its national currency after the hyperinflation of 2009 and relied on foreign currencies. Bond money was introduced in 2016 as foreign cash became scarce, and foreign currencies were barred from domestic transactions in June 2019. The small notes at the end of this line were everyday means of payment, but they were also the public's first physical encounter with the return of a national currency after a decade.