Ex-Advisor To Tsvangirai Explains Leakage Of "34 Tonnes" Of Zimbabwe's Gold To South Africa

1. Watched ED at the ZNCC conference. His reasoning on forex earnings retention by exporters: “To allow people to keep their foreign currency would be disastrous,” he said. What is disastrous is taking their forex & giving them RTGS/Bond Notes on the 1:1 fallacy because it’s theft.
2. I don’t know why ED thinks it’s disastrous to give exporters their earnings. Does he not realise that deliveries of gold to the RBZ have declined & a negative forex retention policy is a major disincentive? Gold producers are now using informal channels, i.e. the black market?
3. When ED was told there’s policy discord on currency reform and asked to clarify his Cabinet’s position on currency, he simply ducked the issue, blamed the past and asked the interlocutor to not live in the past. He simply avoided the question. It doesn’t inspire confidence.
4. RBZ Governor Mangundya gave an uninspiring answer to a foreign investor who asked how challenges of forex affect profits & dividends repatriation. He went legalistic saying the law allows repatriation, which wasn’t really the issue. The question was over practicalities.

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