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Farirai Machivenyika
Senior Reporter
The Monetary Policy Statement presented in April that introduced the new ZiG currency has stabilised the exchange rate and tamed inflation, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mushayavanhu told a Parliamentary committee yesterday.
He met Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion and briefed them on Reserve Bank operations before answering questions.
“We met the Committee on Budget and Finance and the purpose of the meeting was for them to understand how the central bank operates,” he said. “So, we gave them a presentation on the activities that the central bank is involved in and the divisions through which we operate, and they quite appreciated the presentation.
“There was a robust question and answer session where they wanted to understand how the Monetary Policy Statement that we issued on April 5 is performing. I am pleased to say everyone is happy that our currency is now stable, and we have managed to contain inflation and we have also managed to keep the exchange rate stable.”
The ZiG has remained strong with the exchange rate moving slowly around US$1:ZiG13,5 since its introduction in April. The new currency is backed by gold and foreign currency reserves.
Dr Mushayavanhu pledged to consult widely when crafting his future monetary policy statements.
“So, going forward, what the committee said was that consultation is key and each time we are due to review the Monetary Policy Statement, we should always ensure that we engage with the committee and the parliamentarians. We fully agree with that and we are going to make sure that it happens,” he said.
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