"RBZ Raided Over US$3 Billion Depositors' Money," Parliament

Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chaired by former Finance Minister, Tendai Biti (MDC) has claimed that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe raided US$3.2 billion depositors’ funds when it introduced Bond Notes in 2016.

The committee’s report on compliance issues for the RBZ said:

The committee also makes the findings contrary to the protestation by the RBZ that, in fact, it mopped up deposits in bank accounts for onward lending to the central government.

Our finding is based on the clear and uncontroverted evidence that the relevant companies and organisations whose deposits were later on converted into savings bonds, in fact, kept the same in banks and not in their safes, pillows or offices. The RBZ’s actions inevitably led to a massive depletion of any US dollar balances in the system.

The committee further reports that the RBZ does not have its own resources and the money that was lent to the government is actually from the people’s bank accounts.

The central bank, however, insists that of the US$3.2 billion that it converted to savings bonds, none of it came from people’s bank accounts as suggested by Parliament.

More: Zimbabwe Independent