admina lot of talk and controversy around the indigenisation of the banking sector from supposedly influential people across the economic and business divide.
While there has been arguments that the banking sector is sensitive in nature and that an economy cannot grow in an environment where the banking sector is tampered with, there are a number of justifications pointing to the indispensability of indigenising the financial services sector.
The fact that foreign banks in our country have nostro accounts where they hold billions of Zimbabwean money outside our economy is a shame. This money is from our natural resources, for instance, farming and mining. Therefore, this money should not be used to develop other countries at our expense.
Instead the money should be used to further the economic development agenda of Zimbabwe. We should not be afraid to indigenise our banking sector because foreign banks will take their monies outside Zimbabwe. Questions we should be asking ourselves are: who is banking in Zimbabwe? Are they not our own Zimbabwean farmers, miners and entrepreneurs? Thus, the Zimbabweans own the economy and they are the ones who can sustain the banking sector with their money.
The indigenisation of the financial sector is inevitable amid revelations of what happened in Albania. The West destroyed the country’s financial services sector in order to overthrow the Albanian government. Our detractors have a tendency of using whatever weapon at their disposal in order to promote their regime change agenda, so that they may put governments all over the world that are loyal to their demands.
That is how they want to recolonise Africa knowing that they have run out of markets and have no natural resources. Today, as Zimbabweans we have a mandate to guard our sovereignty jealously, if it be through the indigenisation of foreign banks let it be.
It has become increasingly suicidal for the Zimbabwean banking sector to keep relying on the financial models from the West since the recent eurozone crisis is a clear testimony of the breakdown of the European financial sector.
When our banks are linked to the foreign financial system it means that we will experience the contagious effects every time they face challenges.
Thus, there is need for a home grown financial sector that will be exempted from the Western economic woes.
The Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Saviour Kasukuwere is not doing anything outrageous by calling for the indigenisation of the financial services sector.
Evidence on the ground attests to the fact that Malaysia was able to indigenise 91 percent of its banks through trusts. What Zimbabweans need to understand is that we own our resources and economy. Before we think about the financial services sector lets talk about the resources we have.
For it is through these natural resources that we can be able to generate the money that we can bank.
So indigenising the financial sector is possible since our resources are now back in our hands. Money generated from our resources can establish and sustain the indigenised banking sector.
The indigenisation of the banking sector remains vital given that foreign banks are very conservative when it comes to lending, we need a financial sector that will understand the financial circumstances of a black man. Right now few people are banking because of high bank charges.
It should be known that the banking sector cannot be exempted from the indigenisation drive and should not be treated as a no go area. The journey to the total emancipation of our people cannot be complete if the financial services sector is left un-indigenised.
l Blessing Mupaya is a local economic analyst.
Online Reporter