Online Reporter
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has commended Government for implementing policies and measures that have bolstered economic stability and strengthened the domestic currency.
The IMF mission chief, who is in the country, Mr Wojciech Maliszewski said because of the policies and measures being implemented by Government, the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency is stable and the goal is for it to become a fully-fledged national currency.
Mr Maliszewski said the IMF team was in the country to engage in discussions on the Staff Monitored Programme (SMP) and to conduct Article IV consultations. He said Government and IMF were making good progress in implementing policies aimed at enhancing the stability of the domestic currency, deepening the foreign exchange market and ensuring fiscal discipline is firmly embedded.
“These have been the key areas of focus in our discussions, particularly fiscal discipline and the operation of the forex market,” said Mr Maliszewski.
Under the SMP, IMF staff work with Government institutions to support the implementation of agreed economic reforms. SMP is expected to help Zimbabwe establish credible track record of sound fiscal and monetary policies, which enables the country to re-engage with international lenders as it works to clear its debt arrears.
Mr Maliszewski said IMF and Government have been discussing various structural reforms to ensure that the progress being witnessed is sustained and enhanced.
He said for ZiG to become a fully-fledged national currency, several measures must be implemented and chief among them is the development of a deeper forex market that ensures full price discovery.
“At present, we observe good stability in the official market and a narrowing gap between the parallel and official exchange rates. The objective is to eliminate this gap altogether,” said Mr Maliszewski.
Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said Government aims to live within its means. Prof Ncube noted that ZiG is now very stable and this enables businesses to plan and invest.
“Some have even expanded production lines and increased capacity utilisation due to the more predictable business environment,” he said. The positives that the country is recording should spur citizens to work even harder as we build the Zimbabwe we all want.
A group of SADC journalists that visited the country in 2023 observed that there were strong indications that Zimbabwe could soon be an economic powerhouse in the region. This is being confirmed by the progress being made in stabilising and growing the economy as rightly observed by the visiting IMF team.
It is a fact that communities, mainly in rural areas, have started enjoying the fruits of the Government’s Devolution Policy whereby the priority lists of development projects being implemented are coming from the people.
Government is availing resources to local authorities who, in consultation with the people, decide on projects to implement.
We want at this juncture to implore Government and the private sector to ensure that this momentum is not just maintained but is enhanced so that we build a prosperous Zimbabwe for present and future generations.
