This comes as the central bank has engaged banking
institutions to ensure there are no gridlocks in the settlement and clearing of
all foreign currency transactions in the country.
Dr Mangudya told delegates at the Zimbabwe National Chamber
of Commerce (ZNCC) conference last week
that the apex bank and the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) were seized
with the matter.
Zimbabwe adopted a US dollar dominated multicurrency regime
in February 2009 to ensure stability when hyperinflation ravaged the local
currency, rendering it worthless after inflation peaked at 231 million in July
2008.
Dr Mangudya said there was about US$150 million of the
virtual US dollars, which represent the residual on the domestic US dollar
settlement platform established during the dollarisation era.
“This virtual US dollars at the bank represent the residual
forex balances that were in the system when we crossed over from the 100
percent dollarisation era in February 2019,” he said
There have been some delays in settlement and clearing of
transactions on virtual US dollars, mischievously termed “local US dollars in
certain quarters”, over incorrect assumptions of their true status.
Dr Mangudya also said he was assured by the US embassy in
Harare that US dollar notes do not expire while torn notes with at least half
their material and old series notes can be exchanged for their full value.
The Governor said there was no difference between the US
dollars and its virtual form, adding settlement of bank transactions is an activity
for back office staff, which should not inconvenience customers.
The domestic US dollar settlement platform was established
by the central bank with the full consent of the then Finance and Economic
Development Minister Tendai Biti (2009-2013.
Instructively, it was inefficient for local US dollar
payments to be cleared on the international gateway first while Government
accounts did not have enough funds to meet state obligations.
Dr Mangudya said given scrutiny on international payments,
initiating payments locally and having them cleared on the international
settlement platform and back would raise suspicion.
He also clarified that the US$1,1 billion in the nostro accounts and the physical US dollars in the bank exclude the nearly US$150 million of the virtual US dollars in the local bank accounts. Herald
0 comments:
Post a Comment