Zimbabwe central bank governor clashes with Biti over loan approval procedure

The governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe John Mangudya told former Finance Minister Tendai Biti not to abuse his privileged position to question him about signing loans that were not approved by Parliament because he did the same thing when he was Finance Minister.

Testifying before the Parliamentary Committee on Finance which is chaired by Biti, Mangudya argued that everything he did was above board because he was guided by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act and worked with the Minister of Finance and not Parliament.

When pressed that the constitution, which is the supreme law of the country, stipulated that the loans must be approved by Parliament, Mangudya said the bank will comply from now onwards but people must not forget history because when he was Finance Minister he also approved loans without going through Parliament.

When told by Biti that they were not discussing his tenure because Mangudya was not the governor at the time, Mangudya said instead of being taken to task he expected the people of Zimbabwe to thank him for getting the loans.

The central bank obtained loans totaling US$985 million from several African banks including the central bank of Mozambique.

Biti adjourned the hearing to Monday as there were several issues they wanted to raise with Mangudya including his recent monetary policy.

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