Govt Working On Raft Of Measures To Strengthen Zimbabwe Dollar - Mnangagwa
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President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said the government is working on a raft of measures aimed at strengthening the Zimbabwe dollar amid the local unit’s sharp decline in value.
The Zimbabwe dollar was reintroduced in June 2019, after being ditched a decade ago (2009) following record-high hyperinflation of approximately 231 million per cent, as per official statistics, and has been shedding value since then.
Writing in his weekly column in The Sunday Mail, President Mnangagwa said he recently convened a meeting with experts to map the way forward after a recent spike in prices of basic commodities and continued loss of value of the local currency. He said:
As already indicated, a raft of measures will be announced shortly, including measures to increase confidence in the local unit. De-dollarisation will be managed carefully to avert disruptions.
In the wake of last week’s exchange rate turbulences and the resultant upward movement in prices, I met with my team of experts to analyse and review the current situation. To assist the process, we benchmarked our economy against several economies in our region and on our continent. Economies both larger and smaller than ours. The results were quite baffling.
Economies which earn far less than us by way of exports; import more than us; have larger GDPs requiring more imports, and with bigger populations, are enjoying more stable national currency than we do. Kenya is a case in point.
In 2021, our economy earned more than US$9,68 billion from exports. By contrast, the US$100 billion Kenyan economy earned US$6,74 billion for the same period. Our economy is a quarter the size of the Kenyan economy. We import far less than Kenya, while earning more from our exports than Kenya. Our population is less than half that of Kenya. Yet Kenya’s currency is more stable than ours.
He added that current currency instability had nothing to do with economic fundamentals.
He also said Zimbabwe’s tight fiscal policy has translated into a surplus position the Southern African country has not had since Independence. He said there is $28 billion in reserve money which is equivalent to US$116 million at current interbank foreign exchange rate of between $225 and $280 per one United States dollar.
The president added that the government will work hard to “further nurture the growing trust and confidence in the Zimbabwe dollar.”
More: The Sunday Mail