Staff Writer 
THE decision by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to defer the 90 percent foreign currency retention threshold for small-scale gold miners may be understandable in light of operational bottlenecks, but it must remain a delay, not a retreat.
More importantly, when the policy is reinstated, it should not stop at artisanal producers.
Large-scale gold miners, unfairly capped at 70 percent with other exporters, even during the trial, must also be brought into a unified, higher retention framework.
The central bank’s justification that Fidelity Gold Refinery faced implementation challenges and that many small-scale miners remain unbanked is valid.
Financial inclusion cannot be wished into existence, it must be built. However, these are logistical hurdles, not policy flaws.
The government must urgently accelerate banking access for miners and resolve payment system constraints so that the 90 percent threshold can be reinstated without further delay.
The stakes are simply too high. Small-scale miners account for approximately 65 percent of gold deliveries, making them the backbone of Zimbabwe’s gold output. Yet they are also the most exposed to the country’s worsening smuggling crisis.
When formal channels offer less attractive returns than informal ones, leakages become inevitable.
A higher foreign currency retention ratio is not a concession, it is a necessary incentive to keep gold within official markets.
At the same time, the current two-tier system risks distorting behaviour.
As the RBZ itself acknowledged, arbitrage has already emerged, with large-scale producers reportedly channelling gold through small-scale routes to benefit from higher retention. This is a predictable outcome of uneven policy.
Extending the 90 percent threshold across the entire gold sector would eliminate such loopholes at the source.
To be clear, a 70 percent retention level for exporters in general, while far from ideal, may be a pragmatic compromise in a constrained macroeconomic environment.
But gold is not just another export. It is a strategic asset, a critical source of foreign currency, and a sector uniquely vulnerable to illicit flows. Treating it as ordinary undermines both revenue collection and monetary stability.
With global gold prices recently surging above US$4 500 per ounce, Zimbabwe has a narrow but significant window to maximise returns.
Supporting both small- and large-scale miners through improved retention is the most direct way to do so. Anything less risks fuelling the very leakages policymakers seek to contain.
