Andrew
Government is sticking to its five-year de-dollarisation plan, and confident that fiscal and monetary measures put in place to stabilise the local currency will succeed in the long term, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) said on Thursday.
Zimbabwe re-introduced its own currency in 2019 after a decade-long hiatus and put in place a five-year de-dollarisation roadmap detailing how the economy would transition over the period.
The roadmap, among other things, permits the continued use of the US dollar and other foreign currencies over the transitional period.
But, because of the US dollar dominance and preference in the local market, there is resistance to the Zimbabwe dollar, while pricing based on parallel market exchange rates have led to sharp increases in the cost of goods and services pegged in local currency.
This has led to calls by some, for full dollarisation.
But, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, Dr John Mangudya, vowed on Thursday that the local currency was here to stay, warning that its removal would hurt the economy.
“If we remove the local currency from the equation, we will not grow this economy,” he told captains of industry at the annual Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries economic outlook symposium.
“There is a misconception that because the economy earned US$9,7 billion from exports (in 2021) then the economy has got enough foreign currency for use by everyone.
“It is there but it is not yours, you cannot use money which belongs to someone else, that money belongs to the likes of Zimplats, the likes of Unki, the likes of Government.
“It is not mine, I cannot touch that money, it is in the banking sector but it belongs to the owners of the foreign currency.”
Dr Mangudya said de-dollarisation would not happen overnight, but gradually.
“We are on a journey to de-dollarisation. We are in a transition and using the dual currency currently but we should never forget where we
are heading, we are heading towards de-dollarisation there is no country which can develop without its own currency,” he said. – New Ziana
Online Reporter