Staff Reporter

… As Government meets Captains of Industry

The Government, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and Captains of Industry have agreed to curb the volatility in the parallel exchange rates, which are threatening to negatively affect the country’s economic growth.

Speaking through a press statement, the RBZ Governor John Mangudya spelt out, the commitments and pledges taken by Government, the Captains of Industry and the RBZ to contain the movement of the parallel exchange rate.

“Government affirmed its commitment to continue supporting the foreign exchange auction as a dependable and transparent source of foreign currency in the country, and to support the manufacturing sector by levelling the playing field to ensure that exporters obtain a fair value of their export earnings.”

While, the RBZ pledged to, “Continue tightening money supply under its conservative monetary targeting framework to ensure that money supply would not be a source of exchange rate destabilisation; and to review bank policy rates to curb speculative borrowing,” said the central bank governor.

The Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) reiterated the RBZ’s position of reviewing bank policy through promptly implementing regulatory directives on freezing of bank accounts for participants in illicit foreign currency transactions and to ensure the authenticity of bids submitted for auction.

“BAZ commits to ensuring that all bids submitted to the foreign exchange auction are authentic, and to continue to ensure due diligence  on all their customers and applications for foreign currency; to promote confidence in the banking sector, by clearing the foreign currency backlog,” read the statement.

 Meanwhile, the Retailers Association and the Manufacturing Sector, agreed to adhere to the Statutory Instrument 127 of 2021 (SI 127/21), which requires them to desist from, “abuse of auction rules and funds from auction allotments; exchange rate manipulation or currency attack and non-compliance with the Bank Use Promotion Act,” said Governor Mangudya.

All parties agreed that it was important for the economic development of the nation to maintain the macroeconomic stability momentum that has been experienced in the past 12months, while the RBZ will continue to monitor the monetary and foreign exchange developments to ensure exchange rate stability.