Private Sector Behind 2030 Deadline For Local Currency, Says Guvamatanga

Finance Ministry secretary George Guvamatanga said on Monday that the private sector was the driving force behind setting 2030 as the deadline to end the multicurrency system and adopt a sole local currency.

Speaking at a post-budget conference in Harare, Guvamatanga claimed that the government does not own the 2030 target.

He said the date was included in the relevant statutory instrument at the insistence of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI). Guvamatanga said:

“The 2030 date was never a government date. I remember I worked on the SI, and I argued that let’s not put a closing date on this.

“There was strong pushback from CZI, who said we want a date, and we put a date.”

He said ongoing discussions with industry had since led to a change in position.

Guvamatanga also revealed that the statutory instrument (SI) was largely drafted by the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) in collaboration with the CZI. He said:

“The SI is not even ours; it was largely driven by BAZ, and CZI had influence. They wrote the SI; it’s their lawyers who wrote the SI. CZI came with the date, BAZ came with the SI, and we simply published it.”

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, who was present at the meeting, supported the proposal to remove the deadline entirely.

More: ZimLive

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