Browsing tag
Zimbabwe’s new RTGS dollar held firm at around 2,5 to the United States dollar (USD) as it started trading on Friday. With the bond note, bond coin and RTGS dollar (RTGS$) assuming the role of Zimbabwe’s medium of exchange, banks quoted the new currency within the 2,5 range to the greenback.
By Jacob Mafume
The RBZ officially introduced a new currency despite days of denial by the Zanu PF government including the Ministry of Finance and the RBZ.
Again the Monetary statement fails to deal with the basic fundamentals, demonetizing the bond note and returning it in another name is worse.
Zimbabwe scrapped the peg between its quasi-currency bond note and the U.S dollar on Wednesday, its central bank governor said, potentially paving the way for its official currency exchange rate to slide sharply to match its value on the streets.
Paddington Masamha: “The Zimbabwean economy is encumbered with the financial whirlwinds of value destruction and price erraticism. The economic dashboard is signaling a tumultuous and turbulent economic environment for the largely poor economic inhabitants. Burdened with varying economic perplexities; strikes, public protests and demonstrations have become the new norm.”
By Dr Shame Mugova
There has been debate on whether the fixed exchange rate between bond and the US dollar should continue or the exchange rate should be allowed to freely float. Neither of the two options works because both their effects are the same.
The continued use of bond note and RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) is not meant to preserve value or avoid catastrophe. The continued use of the local Zimbabwean currency is a time bomb, the authorities are simply trying to delay the inevitable disaster.
Newly appointed Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, has pledged extensive economic reform measures expected to begin with scrapping of Zimbabwe’s surrogate currency, bond notes and reining in Government spending to restore macro-economic stability and sustainable growth.
Experts have issued a fresh warning that the country is now a touch away from an economic disaster similar to the meltdown of 2008 when local inflation hit world record levels and supermarket shelves went empty for months on end.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says it is satisfied by the impact bond notes have had on exports which grew up by 17 percent last month although its critics on the other hand, accuse the monetary authorities of failing to stop cash shortages.
Barclays Bank of Zimbabwe managing director, George Guvamatanga, says the $300 million new set of bond notes to be introduced by the central bank will not help reduce the current cash shortages.
Government is set to inject more bond notes into the system in what is likely to significantly ease the cash crisis with negotiations for a top-up of the initial $200 million facility now at an advanced stage, the Daily News can exclusively reveal.