To say that Zimbabwe has not had much luck with its monetary system experiments, would be an understatement.

After its disastrous adventures with hyperinflation denominated in its own currency…

… Zimbabwe decided to entirely abandon its reserve currency and shift to the dollar.

As we reported decided to entirely abandon , the Zimbabwe Central bank completely “demonetized” the old Zimbabwe Dollar which would be removed as legal tender after the currency’s use was abandoned in 2009 following a surge in inflation to 500 billion percent. To do this, the bank would exchange up to 175 quadrillion Zimbabwe dollars for $5 US dollars, the country’s central bank said.

Which, as we admitted then, surprised us for three reasons.

First, as noted in 2011, in a stunning example of irony, Zimbabwe cult central banker Gideon Gono made it clear he wishes to avoid another episode of transplant currency hyperinflation courtesy of his counterpart in the Marriner Eccles building and “warned that Zimbabwe’s nascent economic recovery is at the mercy of the United States dollar, which is facing new pressures from the Euro-zone debt crisis.” Yes, Zimbabwe was bashing the US Dollar.

Gono said Zimbabwe should in be looking to the Chinese yuan as its main currency, while urgently seeking to restore its own currency which was abandoned in 2009 after a dramatic loss of its value. Amusingly, he said that “with the continuous firming of the Chinese yuan, the US dollar is fast ceasing to be the world’s reserve currency and the Euro-Zone debt crisis has made things even worse.” And the terminal slap in the face of all that is American: “As a country, we still have the opportunity to avoid being caught napping by adopting the Chinese yuan as part of consolidating the country’s look East policy.”

Second, as further reported early in 2015, China decided to reciprocate Zimbabwe’s diplomatic overtures, by taking a special interest in the south African nation bordering the gold and diamond rich Republic of South Africa. It did so by announcing it planned to set up a modern high-tech military base in Zimbabwe’s diamond-rich Marange fields.