WHY ZMW INSTEAD OF ZMK?

DOWN WE GET IT!

Of ZMW !

I am sure those that have studied the Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Systems will agree with me!

According to the International Standards Organization, every currency in the world is recognized by first the two prominent letters of the country and and secondly the first letter in the currency name.

For example:

USA, the 2 prominent letters here are the US. Now, since the first letter in US currency (DOLLAR) is D hence the USD.

For the GBP, it’s the same. The Great British Pound.

The two prominent letters in the name Zambia are ZM. Zambia’s currency is the KWACHA. So, the Zambian currency initially was ZMK, which is correct.

But why the ZMW?

According to ISO, when a country rebases its currency like what happened when former President Michael Sata rebased our KWACHA in 2014, the prominent letter in your currency’s name moves forward to the next. Since the next letter after ‘K’ is ‘W’, hence the ZMW!

Someone might also want to ask about South African currency. ZAR ? Simple. The country name is ZUIDE AFRICA and the first letter of the currency is R in the rand.

Credit: Innocent Kangulu