Zimbabwe's finance minister has announced that salaries of government employees, teachers and soldiers in the African country are being paid in U.S. dollars instead of in the local currency.

Some 130,000 government employees will receive $100 a month tax-free, replacing their local currency salaries, said Finance Minister Tendai Biti on Tuesday, according to Newzimbabwe.com.

Soldiers were the first to be paid in the new currency as the Zimbabwean dollar is worthless due to hyperinflation. Their wages were paid in vouchers redeemable for cash.

Teachers and civil servants will be paid their wages in U.S. dollars on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, Biti said.

Biti, an opposition leader recently appointed to the cabinet under a power-sharing scheme with President Robert Mugabe, did not say where the dollar bills will come from as the government is bankrupt.