President Emmerson Mnangagwa today promised higher productivity, economic growth and job creation in the coming year adding that there will be no going back on the Zimbabwe dollar as the country’s sole currency for trading locally.
In his New Year message, Mnangagwa said people should not live in the past but must learn from it.
“We must craft a future, benefitting from the wisdom of the past. Therefore, in this coming year, let us all shun violence. Those that propagate violence must be exposed condemned and rejected,” he said.
“Let us declare that never again shall we lose the precious lives of our fellow countrymen, women and children for the political or monetary expedience of a few. The prosperity we so desire will be achieved only if we keep moving in unity and with purpose.”
2019 kicked off with violence as people went on the rampage protesting against fuel price increases. There was massive looting and at least a dozen people were killed.
Hundreds more lost their lives, or disappeared never to be found, after Cyclone Idai hit Chimanimani and Chipinge in Manicaland.
Mnangagwa also said there is no going back on the Zimbabwe dollar which was reintroduced this year.
“Our own currency, the Zim dollar introduced during the last quarter of the year must speedily take root. There is no going back on the mono currency. Let us individually and collectively defend and protect it as our symbol of national pride and sovereignty,” he said.
Although the currency seems to have stabilized on the interbank market, there have been complaints that the interbank market is not as free as it should be.
There have been reports of disharmony between central bank governor John Mangudya and Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube.
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