Opposition leader Elias Mudzuri yesterday took Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube to task to explain what currency the country was using since there were bond notes, RTGS, Nostro US$.
Ncube said Zimbabwe was using a multi-currency regime. Bond notes and RTGS dollars were at par with the United States dollar.
He said foreign currency accounts were only re-introduced to get US dollars into the banking system as they were bypassing banks.
“We have a multi-currency regime. We have pronounced that this is here to stay. That is the currency regime we are using now and the reference accounting currency in terms of our budget is in United States dollars and we have guaranteed a 1:1 conversion in terms of United States dollars and other forms of payment,” Ncube said.
“We announced that. The reason why we are doing that is because we are concerned about loss of value. That is our first order of business because we know that the crisis of 2008/2009 has left scars on people.
“Earlier we were discussing about the loss of pension funds and so forth and we are determined that that value is preserved, but also it creates a sense of order as far as we are concerned so that we can really introduce gradually currency reforms that we think that in the end Zimbabwe ought to have.
“If you go back to the Monetary Policy Statement on 1st October, we announced the separating of FC accounts to deal with commingling because we understood that United States dollars were by-passing the banking system.
“You have what we call a typical disintermediation which is a technical word, just by-passing the banking system. Our determination was that look, if we allowed for the separation of FC accounts people would then start banking in the banks, but also we are now beginning to see bond notes as well being banked,” he said.
Mudzuri is the deputy president of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change but he is the leader of the opposition in the Senate.
He was, however, not satisfied with the response and the time he was given to question the minister.
Below is the full Q & A:
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