Online Reporter
Theseus Mauruki Shambare in VICTORIA FALLS
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has challenged the financial services sector to transform savings into credit for small and medium enterprises and other productive sectors as the central bank seeks to deepen the contribution of finance sector to economic growth.
RBZ Deputy Governor Dr Innocent Matshe said the central bank had introduced the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) Term Deposit Facility partly to encourage savings, which could then be channelled into capital for small and medium-scale enterprises.
“So, the second is the ZiG Term Deposit Facility. The ZiG Term Deposit Facility is a facility to encourage savings. These savings will then be translated into capital for small and medium-scale enterprises,” Dr Matshe said on the sidelines of the ongoing Zimbabwe Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) Global Summit in Victoria Falls.
The ZiG-denominated Term Deposit Facility is one of the monetary instruments being used by the RBZ to manage liquidity and develop the domestic financial market.
The central bank’s latest published results show that the facility remains active, with a ZiG Term Deposit Facility Bill issuance recorded on September 9.
Dr Matshe said the facility was also helping the RBZ develop a yield curve, with short-term returns currently structured across different maturities.
“We have used this term deposit facility to start creating a yield curve. Already, we have a short-term yield curve of 8 percent for 30 days, 9 percent for 60 days, and about 11 percent for 90 days,” he said.
The rates were also set out by the RBZ when it introduced the 30-, 60- and 90-day instruments, with the facility designed to provide positive real returns while supporting liquidity management and the stability of the ZiG.
However, Dr Matshe said the effectiveness of savings mobilisation would ultimately depend on the ability of financial institutions to convert those resources into lending that supports production.
“So, it is important for the financial services sector to play ball, to transform savings into credit that can go into oiling the real sector,” he said.
His comments come as the TNF Global Summit brings Government, business and labour together with investors and other stakeholders to discuss inclusive growth, decent work, beneficiation and investment promotion.
The financing of small businesses is a key component of the broader discussion, with the RBZ also using its Targeted Finance Facility to support productive sectors.
The 2026 Monetary Policy Statement retained the TFF and increased the facility to ZiG1 billion to support productive sectors of the economy.
Dr Matshe said the two instruments — the TFF and the ZiG Term Deposit Facility — were part of the RBZ’s efforts to improve the flow of finance into SMEs and the productive economy.
The RBZ’s broader monetary policy framework seeks to align money-supply growth with real economic activity while maintaining price and financial stability.
For the financial sector, the challenge is therefore to ensure that money mobilised through savings does not remain idle within the financial system, but supports businesses requiring capital to expand production, invest and create employment.
The development also fits into the summit’s focus on inclusive economic growth, with access to finance being one of the links between financial-sector policy and the ability of smaller businesses to participate in economic activity.
Dr Matshe said the RBZ was also pursuing a third Financial Inclusion Strategy, with the focus shifting from access and usage towards resilience.
“The first was about access, the second was about usage, and now we’re thinking about resilience of financial inclusion,” he said.
The RBZ’s approach therefore seeks to connect savings mobilisation, financial inclusion and productive-sector financing, with the central bank looking to financial institutions to strengthen the transmission of savings into economic activity.
