HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #42

Zimbabwe | New ZiG Currency Fails to Maintain Value

Since its launch in April, Zimbabwe’s gold-backed currency, the ZiG, lost 80% of its value on the parallel market (where real-world demand sets exchange rates, often diverging significantly from regime-imposed rates). Though the regime set the ZiG at 13.6 ZiG per dollar, street rates are as high as 26 ZiG per dollar. “The ZiG has been getting weaker, so it does not make business sense to transact with it,” a local street vendor said. To stabilize the ZiG, the regime injected $64 million into foreign exchange markets, arrested currency changers, froze bank accounts, and restricted access to the currency. Despite this, the ZiG’s value continues to slide. Meanwhile, Zimbabweans like Thabo Ncub believe the repeated currency woes “have opened the door for Bitcoin adoption in Zimbabwe, and that no person and no institution will be able to stop it.”

Tunisia | Economic Challenges Grip Citizens as Saied Crushes Competition

Tunisians are caught in a crushing cycle of soaring prices, job losses, growing debt, and deepening poverty as President Kais Saied consolidates power. To sustain his regime, Saied is borrowing heavily from the once-independent central bank, driving inflation higher and pushing Tunisians to the brink of financial ruin. With the Oct. 6 presidential elections approaching, Saied eliminated all electoral opposition, turning the election into a farce. In a blatant show of control, his hand-picked electoral commission defied a court order to reinstate three “disqualified” opposition candidates. Now, the regime has sentenced one of the two remaining candidates, Ayachi Zammel, to 20 months in prison, leaving only Saied’s ally, Zouhair Maghzaoui, on the ballot. Through sustained financial hardship and the purging of all opposition, Saied is pushing Tunisians into a future of economic repression. 

Iran | Physical and Financial Repression of Women Intensifies

The Iranian regime is intensifying its repression of women and girls after the murder of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested for non-compliance with Iran’s mandatory hijab laws. Two years ago, her killing sparked nationwide protests, to which the regime responded with increased surveillance (through artificial intelligence and drones), violence, and even death sentences for women activists, as reported by the United Nations. Beyond physical repression, the regime uses financial control — imposing fines and restricting access to education, jobs, and travel — against women who defy hijab regulations. These financial penalties deepen women’s dependence on the state, preventing them from fully participating in the economy and stripping them of fundamental rights.

World | Central Bank Digital Currency Momentum Grows

According to Reuters, 134 countries worldwide — representing 98% of the global economy — are now exploring central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The uptake is “part of a global push by authorities to respond to declining cash usage and the threat to their money-printing powers from the likes of Bitcoin,” Reuters notes. The fastest-growing bank-to-bank CBDC, called mBridge, connects CBDCs from China, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, and Saudi Arabia. Unsurprisingly, dictators favor CBDCs for the unparalleled control they offer over citizens’ finances. CBDCs can enable regimes to monitor every transaction, block payments, and freeze accounts at will, turning money into a powerful tool of repression. These trends are being mapped in real time by HRF’s CBDC Tracker.

Belarus | Citizens Abroad Face New Intimidation and Threats

Belarusians who fled the country to escape Alexander Lukashenko’s repression are now facing intimidation and threats abroad. Belarusian officials are surveilling and accusing the Belarusian diaspora of “organizing mass unrest” and targeting them with international arrest warrants and direct threats. In addition, the regime is invalidating identity documents and forcing citizens to return to Belarus for passport renewals, where they face arrest and prosecution upon arrival. To counter this, the opposition established “people’s embassies” in 24 countries to protect Belarusians abroad. Lukashenko quickly labeled these “extremist groups,” threatening those using them with seven years in prison and asset confiscation. Lukashenko, fearing another uprising like the 2020 protests — where Bitcoin helped demonstrators bypass the regime’s financial chokehold — continues its transnational repression to secure his re-election and crush international opposition.