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The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has declared that its sustainability certification marks not the end of a process but the beginning of a new phase, shifting its focus from institutional certification to implementation and measurable economic outcomes.
Delivering the keynote address at the Financial Sector Sustainability Summit in Harare today on behalf of Governor Dr John Mushayavanhu, Deputy Governor Dr Jesimen Chipika said the central bank was “moving from certification to implementation, from strengthening the central bank itself to strengthening the financial institutions through which monetary policy transmission and the financing of businesses, households and investors takes place.”
The Reserve Bank received its Sustainability Standards Certification Initiative (SSCI) certification at Level Five — the highest level — at the Global Sustainable Finance Conference in Frankfurt, Germany, on 27 August 2026. Dr Mushayavanhu travelled to Germany to receive the certification in person.
“The certificate itself is not the achievement, but what we do with it is the achievement,” Dr Mushayavanhu said in the address, repeating a point he said he had made in Germany.
Dr Mushayavanhu described the certification as “an important milestone, not only for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, but also for the Zimbabwean broader financial system and economic ambition.”
Dr Mushayavanhu moved to dispel any suggestion that the sustainability agenda represented an expansion of the central bank’s responsibilities.
“Our focus remains clear: price and exchange rate stability, financial sector stability and integrity, and rebuilding confidence and trust in the monetary system of the country,” he said. “Nothing about our sustainability journey changes that mandate. On the contrary, it strengthens our ability to deliver on it.”
He said sustainability did not require the Reserve Bank to assume mandates belonging to other institutions, but rather demanded “a deeper understanding of the transmission channels, stronger internal capabilities and more effective collaboration” with institutions whose decisions shape monetary conditions.
“It requires us to better understand and respond to the economic, financial, technological, environmental and institutional conditions that increasingly influence price stability, exchange rate stability and financial stability.”
Dr Mushayavanhu said the Bank had not created a separate sustainability agenda but had instead “strengthened the institution through which our existing mandate is delivered.”
The Governor identified a series of structural factors he said were amplifying the challenges facing monetary and fiscal policymakers, including exchange rate pressures in the financial system, weak productive capacity, energy constraints, low agricultural productivity, infrastructure gaps, import dependence and technological limitations.
He said the central bank’s ambition “must therefore extend beyond repeatedly managing symptoms towards building the institutional and financial system capabilities needed to support lasting stability,” calling for “the conviction to look beyond immediate problems, the willingness to confront the underlying root causes, and the determination to build the capabilities required for durable monetary and financial stability.”
Dr Mushayavanhu placed the initiative within Zimbabwe’s current macroeconomic context, saying the framework had arrived at an opportune moment.
“We have stabilised the macroeconomic environment,” he said. “The challenge is: can we sustain that status? We hope this framework will help us move forward towards the durable stability that we need for our country.”
In a candid disclosure, Dr Mushayavanhu revealed that the certification process had exposed shortcomings in the Bank’s own resource allocation.
“We were shocked when we were going through our process,” he said. “We agreed on the high-impact goals, but when we looked at resource allocation in the central bank, some of our high-impact goals were not receiving the resource attention they required.”
He said the process had taught the Bank that “declaring an issue or strategy to be of strategic importance is insufficient, unless this priority is reflected in budgets, people, systems and sustained management attention.”
Dr Mushayavanhu said sustainability “cannot be confined to a single division of the central bank or any institution” and “must be embedded in institutional governance, strategy implementation, resource allocation, risk and opportunity assessment and performance measurement.”
He also stressed that “sound governance must precede effective implementation” and that the Reserve Bank “cannot achieve its high-impact goals by acting alone,” calling on financial institutions to work with the central bank “in common purpose.”
Dr Mushayavanhu closed with a defence of the central bank-led SSCI model, describing a chain of mutually reinforcing relationships between a strong central bank, a strong financial system and a strong economy.
“A stronger financial system supports the efficient allocation of financial resources in support of real economic activities and household activities through their intermediation role,” he said. “Consequently, a stronger economy reinforces financial sector growth and profitability — the foundations for lasting monetary and financial stability, as well as generating lasting prosperity.”
He warned of the alternative: “If the financial institutions are weak, the monetary policy will die there.” But if institutions were strong and sustainable, they would “translate that monetary policy into the real economy,” reaching businesses and households.
“When that transmission goes to businesses and households, with the correct direction of allocating capital, the economy rises. When the economy rises, it is a strong economy. It is good for the banks, because we have more clients and you have your profitability. So it is a rich cycle.”
Dr Mushayavanhu acknowledged that such pronouncements had previously amounted to little more than slogans. “We have been there before,” he said. “This time around, we want to make it work.”
