"Gold Coins Had A Ceiling Of 15 000"
A member of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has revealed that a maximum of 15 000 gold coins will be issued saying it was never the central bank’s intention to continue issuing them without limit.
This comes after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday said Zimbabwe should wind down the use of gold coins.
An MPC member Persistence Gwanyanya told Business Times that the gold coins were a “necessary intervention at the time”. He said:
That’s why by 22 November, RBZ has only issued 14 200 gold coins worth ZWL$13.6bn. The target was always to issue a maximum of 15 000 gold coins that’s why the IMF agreed with the authorities to wind down the issuance of the same.
Having achieved a measure of stability the focus is now on attractive ZWL investment instruments to anchor our currency.
The central bank introduced gold coins in July 2022 to mop excess local currency balances blamed for fuelling the parallel market exchange rate resulting in the accelerated depreciation of the Zimbabwe dollar.
The RBZ also hiked the bank policy rate to 200% from 80% to halt borrowing for speculative purposes. | Business Times
