Business Reporter
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has revealed that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and Finance Ministry will soon be implementing a ‘raft’ of new policies to save the country’s heavily battered dollar and deal with galloping inflation.
Mnangagwa said this at his first Cabinet meeting of the year where he sought to map this year’s main agenda.
Zimbabwe’s economy is reeling from a series of economic knocks that have persisted since the early 2000s.
After reaching record-high inflation figures in 2008, its current rate stands at 1,347%/yr, the highest in the world according to renowned economist Steve Hanke.
The local currency has been substituted by a much preferred American dollar in Zimbabwe’s northern part while its southern region mainly uses neighbouring South Africa’s Rand.
“The fiscal and monetary authorities will be implementing a raft of policy measures to arrest price increases, stabilise the foreign exchange rate, maintain the value of our currency and ultimately encourage service,” said Mnangagwa.
“We shall soon be announcing the introduction of our structured currency.”
Previous efforts, described as ‘half-hearted’ by analysts, have failed to reign in Zimbabwe’s free-falling economy already burdened by poor governance and rampant public corruption in public service.
