The central bank chief also revealed that the bank had also
established a monetary policy implementation, monitoring, and evaluation
steering committee to keep an eye on the impact of its policies.
“We are . . . aware that the market has lost confidence and
trust in the credibility and impact of the central bank’s policies over the
years, and this calls for a focused re-orientation and change in the way we do
things in pursuit of our statutory mandate,” said Dr Mushayavanhu in a note to
RBZ employees.
“To rebuild our credibility and relevance, we must
acknowledge that this is not ‘business as usual’ and undertake personal
transformation as well as develop a new ‘RBZ brand’ to win back public
confidence in the central bank.
“It is expected of all of us to adjust to accept this
‘paradigm shift’ of a new work culture that will ingrain in us a responsibility
to provide operational effectiveness and excellence.”
Dr Mushayavanhu took over from Dr John Mangudya, who has
been at the helm of the central bank since 2013 last month.
A fortnight ago, Dr Mushayavanhu announced his maiden
monetary policy which largely focused on currency and exchange rate stability,
financial sector stability, optimal money supply management, foreign exchange
mobilisation and accumulation, and increased demand for the structured
currency.
To achieve this, Dr Mushayavanhu said the RBZ’s “change
agenda” would focus on pushing for the comprehensive reorganisation and
re-orientation of the bank’s tasks, people, structures, systems, culture,
decision-making, and policy-making processes to “successfully carry out our
core commitments and obligations.”
He said the appropriate “re-organisation” of the RBZ would
be carried out in two phases. Dr Mushayavanhu said phase one had already
started, focusing on corporate diagnostics.
The second phase would follow soon after the completion of
the comprehensive and in-depth corporate diagnostics. Under phase one, the “new
RBZ core strategic pillars framework” that informs the design and rebranding of
the bank, guided by the fundamental remit of maintaining price stability, and
restoring market confidence and trust will be communicated to management and
staff in due course.
“As governor, I want to reassure all employees and
re-affirm that phase two is a normal process of learning the bank’s operational
framework and should not be deemed to result in job losses or retrenchments.
“I will be requesting that each division prepare a
comprehensive information memorandum to help in the diagnostic process for
phase two. This will allow me as your governor to gain a solid understanding of
the institution’s people, systems, procedures, and culture.”
He said the central bank programmes would be better
packaged, resourced, and structured to fulfil its statutory purpose in the next
five years (2024–2029).
The primary objectives of the “back-to-basics” agenda would
be to regain lost market trust and prevent undue harm to the central bank’s
institutional credibility in policymaking.
Dr Mushayavanhu added that the central bank would strive to
ensure that the information and data are of high quality and credibility; and
are compiled and transmitted using best practices to avoid compromising the
integrity of reporting to the market.
This was a critical element for ensuring the monetary
policy monitoring and evaluation, internally and externally, is effective and
of acceptable standards, he said.
To facilitate this, the RBZ has established a Monetary
Policy Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Steering Committee (MPIMESCO)
that would use the best practices to effectively monitor and evaluate the
impact of the RBZ’s policies.
“The Reserve Bank will strive to be an evidence-based
institution — trusted for data integrity and credibility. (The) MPIMESCO, which
will establish itself as a reliable hub for data validation in support of
policy formulation, impact monitoring, and review, will be the Reserve Bank’s
transparency mechanism for informing the public on the impact of policies.
“The conditions precedent of attaining policy effectiveness
will include identifying and plugging leakages and restructuring the Reserve
Bank’s balance sheet from short-term pressures likely to undermine the efficacy
of our policies going forward.”
Between 2003 and 2008, Zimbabwe went through a
hyperinflation era which peaked in 2008. The period saw prices skyrocketing.
As the currency became worthless in 2008, Zimbabwe stopped
printing it and allowed foreign currencies, mainly the US dollar, to circulate.
This brought some stability.
While relying on foreign currency helped, it was not a
long-term solution. In 2016, Zimbabwe introduced bond notes and coins pegged to
the US dollar. However, trust issues and a lack of foreign currency reserves
led to their devaluation.
In 2019, a new Zimbabwe dollar was introduced, but it has
struggled with inflation again.
Pensioners, insurance policyholders, and many others
suffered substantial losses due to the currency crises since 2008 and this has
severely eroded public confidence.
“Over the next five years, our strategic intent of
restoring credibility, confidence, and trust will be achieved by ‘walking the
talk’ — doing what we say we will do; doing the right things in the right
manner the first time around; and ensuring that what we say will happen, so
happens,” stated Dr Mushayavanhu.
“We all need to reenergise and rebuild a new spirit of
teamwork and cooperation and reconnect to serve the interests of the Reserve
Bank and our country.
“Every one of us should be working for the attainment of
the bank’s mission and vision; cognisant that we are all here for the job and
not about the individual. The Reserve Bank aspires to be the best employer in
the financial sector to recognise your value and contribution for the Bank to
attain its statutory objectives.” Herald
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