Zimbabwe central bank barred from borrowing foreign currency

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AA) – Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has stopped the country’s central bank from borrowing foreign currency as the country struggles with inflation which has eroded the value of the local currency.

The ban comes as the southern African country nears polls on Aug. 23 to elect the president, legislators, and councilors.

The ban on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe borrowing foreign currency was issued in a statement by Mnangagwa late Thursday.

“The (central) bank shall only borrow foreign currency on behalf of the state at the instance of the (Finance) Minister and not on its own behalf,” said Mnangagwa’s statement.

Recently the Zimbabwean government came up with new measures to curtail rampant inflation, including transferring some functions of the central bank to the Finance Ministry.

Zimbabwe is currently in the grip of a wave of inflation that has wiped away the value of the local currency.

The inflation has been largely blamed on the Zimbabwean regime’s policy inconsistency which has resulted in mismanagement of the poor country’s economy.

The current heavy inflation here follows similar woes in 2008 which largely stemmed from then-President Robert Mugabe’s chaotic land reform program that dispossessed over 4,000 white commercial farmers.