Zimbabwe Parliament calls for stiff penalties for black marketers to preserve the value of bond notes

c)       That the Bill should further provide for a guarantee against possible unforeseen losses that may arise at the expiry of the Afrexim-bank loan guarantee;

d)      The Bill should provide for the establishment of an independent body to monitor the printing and circulation of bond notes to a maximum limit of the Afrexim-bank guarantee.

2.4     Members of the public who opposed the Bill made reference to the extraordinary hyper inflationary environment following issuance of bearer cheques in 2008 which eventually led to the adoption of a multicurrency system to stabilise the economy. That transition to the multi-currency system, left Zimbabweans exposed with hordes of the bearer cheques which they could not exchange anywhere value.

2.5     Members of the public were concerned about statements attributable to the Executive where a perception was developed that the bond note would be exclusively paid to exporters and that would not be forced on the people. The Committee established that some people were not aware that the bond notes would be available to everybody including non-exporters.

2.6    There were reservations expressed on the provision whereby the bond note is at par with the US dollar. There were allegations that an illegal foreign currency market had already emerged where the US dollar was trading at 1: 0,70 to the bond note. Members of the public questioned whether the bond notes could be used as a store of value just like any other currency.

2.7     Some members of the public advised the Committee that more than 80% of the economy was informalised and the majority of the people did not have bank accounts and yet they import some of their products. They were wondering how they would access foreign currency from the banks.

2.8    Some members of the public who were also opposed to the introduction of the bond notes argued that there was urgent need for the government to revive the local industries. They believed that this would result in increased production for local consumption and exports thereby generating foreign currency. It recommended that the Government initiates policies that are aimed at increasing production.

2.9    There was concern raised on the quality and security features of the bond notes. Members of the public claimed that when one got soaked in the rains the notes would stain their clothes whilst it was observed that the some of the $2 notes were not identical. They called for improvements on the quality and security features on the bond notes.

2.10  Members of the public were of the view that the introduction of the bond notes was actually frustrating an established use of plastic money.

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