Reactions To The Mid-Term Monetary Policy Statement

Yesterday’s Monetary Policy Statement was met with mixed reactions on various social media platforms such as Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook etc. I am going to present to you just a few reactions from Twitter. Here they are;

Zim Bollar Index‏ @ZimBollar 22h22 hours ago

It’s now Official: Zim now has two currencies. RTGS/Bond and USD(FCA)

Alex T Magaisa ‏ @Wamagaisa 15h15 hours ago

According to the Finance Minister Zimbabwe’s total debt stands at 16.9 bln. Foreign debt amounts to $7.4 billion. Domestic debt is $9.5 billion. It was only $275.8 million in 2012. That’s around 9,2 billion borrowed in just 6 years. What did they use it for?

Shingirai Muzenda‏ @ShingiMuzenda 32m32 minutes ago

Kkkkk macroeconomics is one of the difficulty topics. The economy is not CBZ man. Just do us a favor and resign. #Mangudyamustgo @edmnangagwa

ED‏ @ED_Josp 1h1 hour ago

#Mangudya is clueless. People celebrated when @MthuliNcube was appointed minister but at the end of the day his decisions will be controlled by Zanu PF. #Zimbabwe is not open for business with these kind policies. What happened to the bond note act (1:1) that was gazetted by gvt?

ED‏ @ED_Josp 1h1 hour ago

Seriously how do you increase taxes when the economy is a bad situation like this? Current bank balances have to be protected to remain at par with the USD. Govt amended the RBZ bill so they have to own up. Walk the talk. @edmnangagwa @MthuliNcube @BitiTendai #MangudyaMustGo

Shame‏ @ExpBusinessSA 20h20 hours ago

The animal called FCA RTGS will continue to haunt us.The money creation by government was just too much. Issuance of Treasury Bills 16. To date, Treasury Bill issuances have increased from US$2.1 billion in 2016 to a cumulative US$7.6 billion, by end of August 2018

Zondi Kumwenda‏ @zkumwenda 10h10 hours ago

Replying to @happ_zenge @MthuliNcube and 3 others

This 2% is another monumental failure by the authorities. Dealing with symptoms and not the disease. RBZ creates excessive RTGS money and punishes the nation for that? Seriously? Common sense: “any excessive taxation, results in lower taxes collected per every dollar”

TENDAI BITI‏ @BitiTendai Sep 28

Thanks to this illegitimate vampire regime the parallel exchange rate has now shot up to 230% .Which means that one now requires ZIm$230 to purchase US$100.Ironically major driver of this push is the State itself which is buying currency from the black market.#RiggingDoesNotPay

Alex T Magaisa ‏ @Wamagaisa 22h22 hours ago

The Governor has directed banks to separate NOSTRO FCA & RTGS FCA. I hope economists will peel this for us: an FCA account is, by definition, an account into which you deposit foreign currency. What, therefore, is an RTGS FCA & how does it differ from a NOSTRO FCA? Implications?

Fadzayi Mahere@advocatemahere

What we know as a historical fact is that once they separate real FCAs from the bogus ones they left us after they raided the banking system, the next thing they’ll do is raid real FCA accounts to complete their circle of looting.

Let’s not pretend we haven’t been here before.

Prof Jonathan Moyo

Memories still too fresh to forget & embrace a new RTGS FCA mirage!

Edwin Ukama‏ @EdwinUkama 6h6 hours ago

Zimbabwe in a tough place. All the untruths about Bond Notes being equal to USD being exposed. In 2009 the RBZ helped itself to the forex sitting in FCAs. What will be different now?

Marshall Gore‏ @marshallgore 10h10 hours ago

The monetary policy announced by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor JM yesterday is expected to proffer solutions to prices that have been going up and to announce measures to create financial stability in the economy. However, beyond the measures we need patience before progress

TM‏ @TmMastap 16h16 hours ago

Replying to @OpenParlyZw @MthuliNcube

No guarantee that FCA will not be converted to RTGs Accounts. In 2009 we all opened FCA but today we are told to open another FCA. What happened to our accounts. What are they now. Am confused. Hope this will not create loopholes to empty our accounts

David Coltart

The nub of #MonetaryPolicyZW yesterday: the gulf between those who have access to forex & those who don’t will grow, again impoverishing the poor. The poor majority will also fund the profligacy of the obscenely rich few by an additional tax on their transactions.

To understand some of the things raised in the Monetary Policy Statement you have to understand how payments in Zimbabwe work. Techzim has done an insightful report on Zimbabwe’s payment systems. You can buy the report below