The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says government did not
prejudice holders of US dollar accounts with the coming in of the forex
interbank market and the subsequent devaluation of the RTGS dollar.
All USD nostro dollar bank accounts still maintain their
value but the move was aimed at bringing transparency in the foreign exchange
market as well as removing distortions.
The RBZ has described it as a fallacy to assume that the US
dollar accounts opened with banks in 2009 still held US dollars up until
recently when the RTGS dollars were introduced last week.
The clarification comes amid an outcry by the banking
public that they were severely prejudiced by unfairly converting US dollars
into RTGS dollars which are now trading at a rate of around 1 is to 2.5.
“A lot has happened on the monetary side over the years
which has become clear that what people are holding are not US dollars despite
the fact that they opened US dollar accounts in 2009. Banks also ring fenced
the accounts of those who deposited US dollars which explains why we made it a
point that the two accounts be separated last year,” said the RBZ governor Dr
John Mangudya.
Dr Mangudya was speaking to ZBC News after meeting
economists and analysts to discuss the monetary policy statement issued last
week.
The RBZ governor challenged those who deposited US dollars
but are withdrawing RTGS dollars to prove it to the monetary authorities.
He also said they are looking at creating inflation-linked
investment products to preserve the value of pensions.
Modalities to allow access by traders on the ZSE to the
forex interbank market are being put in place to allow settlement of foreign
transactions. zbc
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