Online Reporter
Rutendo Nyeve, [email protected]
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has slammed “opportunistic” businesses for a wave of unjustified price hikes on basic commodities, labelling the recent surge in bread costs a direct act of economic exploitation that threatens to derail national stability.
Addressing delegates at the Insurance and Pensions Symposium in Victoria Falls on Thursday, RBZ Deputy Governor Dr Innocent Matshe expressed concern that some economic agents were exaggerating the impact of external shocks to inflate prices, thereby undermining the stability the Central Bank has worked tirelessly to achieve.
He said the recent US$0,10 increase in the price of a standard loaf of bread had no basis in the actual cost structure. “I am told that bread has risen to US$1,10 a standard loaf of bread, and I’m asking, where does the US$0,10 come from? It’s not related to the percentage contribution of transportation. It doesn’t contribute 25 percent, or nowhere near 20 percent,” Dr Matshe said.
He noted that while geopolitical tensions in the Middle East had pushed up fuel prices, the impact on production and transport costs remained minimal. However, some businesses have used the situation as a pretext to raise prices disproportionately.
“You can see that people really have exaggerated the movement in the price of fuel. It’s mostly a perception that because there is this rise in the price of fuel, so we should jack prices up in an exaggerated manner,” said the Deputy RBZ Governor.
This comes at a time when the RBZ has been celebrating significant gains in stabilising the economy, with monthly ZiG inflation averaging just 0,14 percent in February 2026 and annual inflation falling to 3,8 percent — the lowest in three decades.
Reiterating the Central Bank’s commitment to defending these gains, Dr Matshe stressed that the RBZ would remain steadfast in its pursuit of durable stability.
“Let me put it very clearly this morning that the Reserve Bank is unrelenting. We are going to stay because we are going to make sure that the stability we have is durable,” he said. Dr Matshe said the bank’s hybrid monetary policy framework — which targets reserve money and uses the exchange rate as an intermediate target — has served the country well. The framework has helped reduce the exchange rate premium to below 20 percent, while foreign currency reserves have risen to approximately US$1,2 billion, covering six times the ZiG reserve money.
He outlined several measures the RBZ has taken to entrench stability, including maintaining the bank policy rate at 35 percent to prevent premature easing, introducing a term deposit facility to help determine the interest rate corridor, and reducing transaction fees to promote the use of formal banking channels. These include slashing cash withdrawal charges to a maximum of two percent, reducing point of sale fees to 1,5 percent, and completely scrapping balance enquiry charges.
Dr Matshe also highlighted the country’s progress under the Staff Monitored Programme (SMP) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has helped demonstrate a track record of prudent fiscal and monetary management.
Pick’n’Pay has been increasing prices of commodities since January. Now they have removed pricing in ZIG and retained the US dollar pricing.