Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa
John Holder from the ruling Zanu-PF party led the legislators as they asked Chinamasa to explain why the country continued to experience cash shortages five months after the new administration of President Emmerson Mnangagwa came into power, NewsDay reported.
Chinamasa, however, “skirted the issue and said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) was in the process of authorising bureau de changes”.
He said that cash shortages were being caused by low exports and not necessarily the money changers.
But the MPs and their opposition counterparts accused him of dodging the questions and hiding behind technical facts and figures.
State institutions
“The minister must know that we are aware it is the RBZ that is supplying the foreign currency on the streets,” Daily News quoted an Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) MP for Mabvuku-Tafara, James Maridadi as saying.
David Chapfika of Zanu-PF alleged that state institutions were involved in the cash shortages.
This came RBZ was suing opposition New Patriotic Front (NPF) spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire for allegedly fingering one of Mnangagwa’s sons in alleged black-market currency trading in cahoots with the central bank, Daily News said.
Reports indicated that Zimbabwe’s banks were critically short of cash – both local bond notes and US dollars. Many retailers were sourcing their foreign currency on the black market to restock their shelves, driving up prices.
Post published in: Business