Zimbabwe says operation mari wakaiwanepi could deal with black market

Newly appointed Deputy Minister of Finance Clemence Chiduwa says one of the easiest ways to immediately deal with the black market is to ask those bringing goods into the country mari wakaiwanepi ( where did you get the money?)

Responding to questions in Parliament today on how the government was going to deal with withdrawals which are currently limited to $300 a week, which most legislators said was totally inadequate, Chiduwa said cash injection into the economy, which started yesterday, had to be gradual to prevent the money from being diverted to the black market.

”Part of the policy that we are working on is the issue of dealing with the black market. The issue of the black market is something that we are saying when people are buying goods and services from outside; they bring in goods through our borders. What we need is as they bring those goods, the easiest thing for us is just to say mari wakaiwanepi? This will immediately deal with the black market because as long as we say mari wakaiwanepi people will go through the official market,” Chiduwa said.

Q &A

HON. MUTAMBISI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  My question is directed to the Leader of the House.  The $300 withdrawal for individuals per week is far below the normal expectations by the general public.  What is Government doing to cover up for such disparity?

THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  We are in a transitional period.  We moved from the use of the US dollar and we introduced our currency but we had a cash cover of only bond notes that were there, hence the need to ensure that we have a cap on withdrawals but fairly recently we have deliberately decided to inject cash into the market.  So as we start injecting that cash we cannot open up but we have to monitor so that we limit the inflationary pressure on our economy.  So it is something that the Government will look into progressively but the good thing is that cash is now being injected into the economy and the situation will improve progressively.  I thank you.

HON. T. MLISWA: We have the Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Development there.  He was at the RBZ and he can respond.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order.  Hon. Mliswa, it is not permissible to point a finger at him.  Hon. Deputy Minister, can you respond?

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (HON. CHIDUWA):  Thank you Hon. Speaker.  I am sure that the Hon. Members really want to get the responses but I officially started work today and because of that, I think we will prepare the appropriate responses. – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order.  Hon. Minister, you start working as soon as you are appointed, try.

HON. CHIDUWA: Hon. Speaker, let me give the House a response on that.  Hon. Member, the issue of economic management, we have to deal with a lot of variables and the variables that we are dealing with here are the operations of the parallel market. We are dealing with the issue of inflation and a huge cash injection has an impact on how people are going to behave especially with regards to the parallel market.  – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –

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