adminNgoni Dapira Busines Correspondent
THERE are calls for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to do more awareness campaigns on the newly introduced bond coins following apparent resistance by consumers and transport operators. Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries national president Mr Charles Msipa said the RBZ should do more awareness campaigns to the general populace. He added that there was also need to make use of coin-counting equipment for retail outlets to ease the burden of counting the coins.
“Although it is too early to tell how the bond coins have been received so far, the resistance we hear by some informal players means RBZ has more work to do on awareness campaigns.
“Many formal retail outlets bought the bond coins but we hear some vendors and commuter omnibus operators are shunning them.
“This is because of the information gap. RBZ as a result needs to step in on more awareness,” said Mr Msipa.
Spar Mutare general manager Mr Tawanda Mukapa said there was need to build confidence in the bond coins as people were still sceptical from the loses rendered during the dollarisation transition in 2009.
“RBZ has to do road shows and more hands on awareness campaigns on the bond coins. A lot of people lost out during the dollarisation transition in 2009 and people fear that the coins are valueless.
“But this is all misinformation which RBZ has to clear,” said Mr Mukapa.
An economist, Mr Tendai Mukarakati, added that resistance was only rational from Zimbabweans given the Zimbabwe dollar experience. He concurred that the media campaigns by RBZ were not enough to convince consumers and a more hands on approach was needed.
A survey on Wednesday in the major retail outlets in Mutare like Spar, OK and TM revealed that some consumers are still opting for cash vouchers in place of the bond coins.
A shop manager in one of the retail outlets said: “It is true some consumers do not want the bond coins.
“They are saying they are being turned down in commuter omnibuses and by vendors on the streets.”A Coca-Cola vendor at Meikles Park in the Central Business District in Mutare said the bond coins were being rejected by some consumers with some citing that commuter omnibus operators did not want them as their main reason for shunning the coins.
Efforts to get comment from the RBZ spokesperson, Mr Alson Mfiri, were unsuccessful.
RBZ last year on December 18 unveiled the new regime of special coins indexed at par with the rand to improve the small-change challenges in the country.
The bond coins, which are in denominations of 1c, 5c, 10c and 25c, were bankrolled by a $50 million bond facility from the African Export-Import Bank.
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