Q & A:
*HON. ADV. CHAMISA: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for the words that he said about lack of foreign currency. From what Hon. Khupe said, there is also shortage of local currency, we realise there are bank queues and in this cold weather, people are sleeping at the banks to try and get money. At one time you were standing there and you said this will come to an end. You also said Dr. Mangudya will commit suicide if it does not come to an end but he is still alive. From what you said it seems like you are backtracking from what you had said earlier, the challenge still persists. Is there anything that is being done by your Ministry to address the challenges because we tend to think the Minister is not aware of the challenges and we think the Minister does not know what to do anymore?
This issue has affected workers, widows, pensioners and even Members of Parliament have faced challenges in the banks. What is the Government doing to ease the cash crisis or the liquidity crunch in the country? I thank you.
HON. CHINAMASA: I encourage Members of Parliament to use plastic money. Plastic money is not a challenge. Please understand me Vice President. There is no country that has a policy which states that all the money in the bank should be in physical cash. In our country, the deposits in the banks amount to US$7.2bn. So, it is impossible for us to give US$7.2bn in physical cash of US dollars. For us to get US dollars, we get it through exports and when we get that money, we then use that money to buy more cash from the Federal Reserve Bank in America. The money that we are supposed to buy fuel, we are now buying money for you to use. What I am saying is that each country says about 10% to 15% of bank deposit should be in physical cash, is that not the case? Now, when we look at it, we realise that what is in circulation is in line with about 11% but because of people who do not listen, they are the ones who are taking money, hoarding it and it is no longer in circulation.
The money has to circulate from Hon. Vice President going on to Hon. Chamisa then come back to Hon. Mpariwa. Right now money is not circulating because there are people who are hoarding that cash. We have taken other companies to court that since 2009, have not banked any money but they are in business and acquiring millions which they receive in cash. Those are issues that we are looking into. The main challenge is that you need to change your dirty mindset – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – Remove this mindset that you need to buy everything in cash.
*HON. ADV. CHAMISA: The people that I raised this question for are people who are out there who are struggling to access cash. They are in queues right now. If you go outside and look at the bank close by, you will find that they are standing in queues and those are the people who are said to have a challenge in terms of their minds. The Minister said they have dirty mindset – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –
*THE ACTING SPEAKER: Order please, Hon. Members on my right. If I heard the Minister correctly, he made that statement of dirty mindset in general; he did not refer to anyone.
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