Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said companies, and not individuals, are resisting the use of bond coins because they are making money out of it.
Responding to questions in the Senate, Chinamasa said his ministry was educating the public about the value of using bond coins because unlike the South African rand, the bond coins were equivalent to the United States dollar and were backed by Afrexim Bank.
“Bond coins have value because they are supported by a facility from Afrexim Bank which is in Cairo. What it means is, if you have your bond coins that are worth $1 million, you will be given the equivalent of US$1 million because the value of the bond coins is equivalent to the US$,” Chinamasa said.
“Our thrust at the moment is the encouragement of the use of the bond coins because the Rand is trading weaker than the US$. For example, today’s exchange rate is US$1 for 11. 7 Rands. What that means is, those that are receiving their change in Rands are being short changed due to their ignorance.”
Chinamasa said the biggest problem was companies because they were the ones that were resisting the use of bond coins.
“The firms are the companies which do not want the bond coins. It is because they have been making money out of it. I think there is a lot of money with the retail business where people are short changed. People may not bother, for instance if they are owed 5 cents; cumulatively that five cents could be a fortune. It is very important and I want to take your point to heart that we raise awareness of the people on the use of bond coins,” he said.
Q & A:
*SENATOR SHIRI: Thank you Madam President. My question is directed to the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Hon. Chinamasa. I would like to know what measures are in place in order to educate the public about the issue of bond coins. Furthermore, what measures are going to be taken against business people who are refusing to accept these coins?
*THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (MR. CHINAMASA): Thank you Madam President for the question posed. The measures that we are taking to encourage our business people to transact using bond coins include advertisement in the newspapers. We hold workshops where we impart knowledge on the importance of the bond coins in the alleviation of shortage of change. We also have in place measures that emanated from our research which showed us that, retailers such as Mohamed Mussa, OK and TM are the ones who use bond coins. We are holding meetings with them, where we are encouraging them to use bond coins. Bond coins have value because they are supported by a facility from Afrexim Bank which is in Cairo. What it means is, if you have your bond coins that are worth $1 million, you will be given the equivalent of US$1 million because the value of the bond coins is equivalent to the US$. Our thrust at the moment is the encouragement of the use of the bond coins because the Rand is trading weaker than the US$. For example, today’s exchange rate is US$1 for 11. 7 Rands. What that means is, those that are receiving their change in Rands are being short changed due to their ignorance.
Legally, there is a law that we can use to force people to use bond coins but from our previous experience, we have decided not to force people to use these bond coins but rather, we have taken the route of encouragement towards the use of bond coins. If we were going to use force, the public was going to resist this initiative for no apparent reason; hence we are appealing to the public to use the bond coins. I thank you.
SENATOR W. SIBANDA: Hon. Minister, I heard you say you are holding meetings with stakeholders like Pick and Pay, TM and all others. The majority of the people in Zimbabwe are living in the rural areas. What is your position in terms of conscientising the general dealers at home and also the citizens of Zimbabwe in general?
MR. CHINAMASA: I thank you very much. I think you have rightly drawn my attention to the fact that we are not doing enough in terms of raising awareness. We will certainly go back to see what else we can do to make sure that we try to reach out. We have tried to have programmes on the radio but to what extent that has an impact, we do not know. It is very important that we raise awareness of our people to the need for small change. The firms are the companies which do not want the bond coins. It is because they have been making money out of it. I think there is a lot of money with the retail business where people are short changed. People may not bother, for instance if they are owed 5 cents; cumulatively that five cents could be a fortune. It is very important and I want to take your point to heart that we raise awareness of the people on the use of bond coins.
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