Sundaymail EditorLivingstone Marufu
GOVERNMENT has established the legal framework to allow individuals to carry US$2000 -up from US$1 000 – outside Zimbabwe.
The law follows a pronouncement to that effect by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mangudya in the Mid-Term Monetary Policy Statement in early August.
According to Statutory Instrument 93 gazetted last week: “The maximum of the currency that may be taken out of Zimbabwe on the person or in the baggage of a person who is leaving Zimbabwe, is a total of two thousand United States dollars in any currency or the combination of the currencies or in bond notes or coins.
“The amount of currency that a person who is about to leave Zimbabwe may possess, without authorisation in terms of . . . the principal regulations, in the departure or transit lounge of an airport or other port, is a total of two thousand United States dollars, or its equivalent in any currency or combination of the currencies or in bond notes and coins.”
Amounts above US$2 000 require exchange control approval through normal banking channels.
The RBZ has engaged the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority in the battle to stop the flight of cash from the country.
Government seeks to boost foreign currency generation by, among other interventions, increasing production and exports, and concluding a US$600 million nostro stabilisation facility with the African Export-Import Bank.
Money in circulation consists of bond coins (US$25 million), bond notes (US$175 million) and foreign currencies (US$800 million).
This means about US$1 billion is circulating in the economy, much of it outside formal channels.
A US$300 million in bond notes will be released over coming months to ease cash shortages and stimulate production through export incentives.
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