RBZ calls on Govt to adopt bond notes as primary currency, says Rand won't solve cash crisis

Speaking during a public lecture at the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo last week, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) director Economic Research Simon Nyarota said the country should adopt bond notes as a primary currency to solve the cash shortages and solve economic challenges.|s

He also said calls for the formal adoption of the South African rand as an anchor currency were not going to solve the country’s biting cash shortages. Said Nyarota:

The country needs to buttress the multi-currency regime with bond notes towards a full currency board arrangement as part of a de-dollarisation agenda. To migrate to a full currency board, the country needs to cover 100 percent of base money which currently stands at around $1,1 billion with foreign currency reserves.

However, economic consultant Ashok Chakravati told the Daily News that rand adoption could also reduce foreign currency leakages that are largely blamed for the current cash-crisis. Economic analyst, Vince Musewe who is also People’s Democratic Party economic affairs secretary concurred with Chakravati.

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