Zimbabwe broad money supply up 30 percent

Zimbabwe’s annual broad money supply recorded a 29.61 percent growth in July to $6.56 billion, driven by an increase in deposits, latest data from the central bank has shown.

Broad money supply (M3), is a measure of the money in circulation which includes physical currency and demand deposits.

Beginning January 2017, M3 was redefined by the International Monetary (IMF) to exclude government deposits held by banks and interbank deposits.

Transferable demand deposits and time deposits grew by 35.45 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively in July compared to last year, though negotiable certificates of deposits fell 7.6 percent.

Month-on-month M3 was up marginally from $6.49 billion in June to $6.56 billion.

In a monthly report the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) said domestic credit rose by 29.22 percent on the back of a 55.86 percent increase in net credit to government.

Credit to the private sector increased by 5.17 percent to $3.49 billion from $3.32 billion last year.

However, on a month on month basis, credit to the private sector fell 0.88 percent from $ 3.52 billion in the previous month.

Credit to households claimed the largest share of credit, at 23.6 percent, followed by agriculture at 17.8 percent while services and manufacturing claimed 16.4 percent and 12.1 percent respectively as at end of July.

The value of transactions processed through the National Payments System (NPS) decreased by 2.3 percent to $8.5 billion in July, from $8.7 billion in June despite a 13 percent increase in transaction volumes to 85.9 million. – The Source

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