The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says it will continue to
pursue confidence building measures and is optimistic the recently secured
US$500 million interbank facility will go a long way in stabilising the
exchange rate.
The country’s apex bank maintained that the inter-bank
market remains critical in correcting price distortions in the foreign exchange
market and restoring domestic competitiveness.
Responding to questions during the on-going 2019
African Finance Association Conference in Victoria Falls, RBZ Director for
Economic Research, Mr John Mufararikwa said the move to allow fuel companies to
compete for foreign currency on the interbank market is meant to guard against
arbitrage and reaffirmed the central bank’s confidence that exchange rates will
converge in the short to medium term.
“One major distortion that we faced was in the allocation
of foreign currency and now we are saying the market should allocate the forex.
Key is to ensure that all transactions that we used to allocate forex are
pushed to the interbank,” said Mr Mufararikwa.
Delegates attending the African Finance Association
Conference being hosted by Africa Growth Institute are convinced that Zimbabwe
monetary reforms will restore financial sector stability and highlighted the
need for complementary fiscal policies.
Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) Vice Chancellor, Professor
Rungano Zvobgo and National University of Science and Technology (NUST)
Executive Dean of the Faculty of Commerce, Dr Peter Nkala emphasised the need
for collective efforts in ensuring macro-economic stability.
“The cry baby approach to development will not take us
anywhere; said Professor Zvobgo.
Zimbabweans are known for their resilience and we must be determined
to face the obstacles,” said Dr Nkala.
The 2019 African Finance Association Conference attracted
academic, banking, financial and insurance researchers and practitioners from
across the continent to discuss issues impacting the banking, finance and
insurance sectors in Africa. zbc
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