Govt investigating abuse of new bank notes

14 Nov, 2019 - 16:11 0 Views
Govt investigating abuse of new bank notes

eBusiness Weekly

HARARE – The Zimbabwe government is  investigating reports that the newly released Zimbabwe dollar notes have  flooded the black market where they are being sold at a premium, the  Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services said on  Thursday.

The new notes started circulating this week on Tuesday.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe introduced the new notes after the  government mid-this year returned the local currency as part of wider  reforms, aimed at stabilizing the economy.

The currency reforms saw the government dumping use of multiple foreign  currencies for local transactions, a decade after it adopted them.

In $2 and $5 denominations as well as $2 bond coins, the new currency  came as a huge relief to Zimbabweans who had for years endured cash  shortages and were now only managing to access it on the parallel  market, for a premium.

Images of crispy new notes have however been circulating on social  media, raising fears that they had been offloaded onto the black market  straight from the central bank.

In a tweet, the Ministry of Media, Information and Broadcasting  Services said investigations were underway to track the source of the  new notes being traded on the black market.

“Government through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is investigating  allegations of abuse of newly released bank notes. Cash was collected by  banks using their CIT vehicles on Monday. All serial numbers were  recorded in the register. The offending banks will be named and severe  action taken,” it said.

The central bank has said it injected over $30 million into the market,  and will continue drip-feeding the new notes for the next six months  until total issued cash is about a 10th of total deposits in both  foreign and local currency.

Zimbabweans had over the years endured cash shortages as the central  bank uncharacteristically kept cash in circulation very low compared to  what is done in other economies.

The shortages of cash gave birth to multi-pricing in the economy as  well as a thriving bank note selling business as some businesses such as  transport operators preferred to transact in cash only. – New Ziana

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