PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday said his government
would soon unveil new notes and coins to complete the cycle of the introduction
of the new currency put in motion through the banning of the multi-currency
system.
Speaking during his traditional national clean-up exercise
in Mount Pleasant, Harare, Mnangagwa said the country did not, as yet, have its
own currency despite having banned the use of the multi-currency regime.
“You know that on the aspect of currency, we banned the
multi-currency regime and said we want our own money. We are yet to have our
own currency, but we banned the other currencies,” he said.
“What we have left is the RTGS and swipe. In the future,
money will come that will have our own features of Zimbabwe so that we can hold
our heads high.”
Before the introduction of the new Zimbabwe notes and
coins, the local currency is already taking a beating after Finance minister
Mthuli Ncube in his Mid-term budget review on Thursday introduced measures that could
trigger inflation.
Ncube increased prices of most government services and
electricity tariffs, pushed up taxes on alcohol and fuel.
Mnangagwa acknowledged the downside of the economy, telling
Zimbabweans that they should confront the hardships head-on.
““We have problems, but we must not avoid them. We are
supposed to face them head-on. In that process, we have to go through hard
times until we surmount those
challenges,” he said.
In anticipation of the looming price hikes, the Zanu PF
leader warned business people, saying he could soon introduce laws to arrest
those who increase prices of their commodities, but failing to increase salaries of
their workers.
“Prices in this country are just going up and going up, but
the business owners, who are increasing prices, are not increasing salaries of
their workers, who are selling their goods in the shops,” Mnangagwa said.
“What is happening to the money that you are taking from
your consumers? Yesterday, the good was $3, today it’s $7, the next day, it’s
up to $10. Have you done the same for the worker? No, you have not. Well, it’s
good, we will see between me and you who has power. I have the law and I have
handcuffs to arrest you. We will see who will arrest the other. We need laws to
deal with this.”
Mnangagwa, facing threats of impeachment and demonstrations
from the opposition, said he was doing everything within his power to improve
the livelihoods of the general citizenry.
“Your government is doing all it can day in, day out so
that we have a better life tomorrow. The journey is difficult, but where we are
going, there is hope for good things. I think by the end of the year, we will
remove austerity measures because things will be well,” he said. Newsday
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