Zimbabwe’s Finance and Economic Development Minister, Mthuli Ncube announced on Twitter on Saturday 18 May that the government has raised $5010 Million from international banks.
He made the announcement after the RBZ had announced that it would be injecting US $500 million in the Interbank Forex Market on Monday, 20 May. Zimbabweans on social media questioned where the money had come from with some speculating that the government had been buying forex on the black market in the past week.
Mthuli Ncube intervened to explain the source of the money:
The US$500 million new facility raised from international banks will increase the supply of foreign currency for imports, for industry and other sectors. https://t.co/RY3wAKfYTR
— Prof. Mthuli Ncube (@MthuliNcube) May 18, 2019
The RBZ and Ncube’s announcement came after a week of an increased rate of the US dollar to the RTGS$. Zimbabwe is experiencing an acute shortage of foreign currency which has driven the rate up. This has resulted in shortages of some products such as fuel, which has to be imported. It has also resulted in a drastic increase in prices of basic commodities.
Ncube’s announcement tweet was mostly met with negative reactions.
https://twitter.com/PacheduZW/status/1129814410166525952
Prof Mthuli in the last few months, the mega deals you have reported would make us the most stable economy in the world. Is this an attempt to calm the markets? Good advise – tell ED @edmnangagwa to stop discreditable dialogue, engage in genuine talks.
— Citizen Nkululeko Sibanda zw (@DrNkuSibanda) May 18, 2019
More: Mthuli Ncube on Twitter
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