Our Harare correspondent Simon Muchemwa reports that most branches of Bakers Inn, Creamy Inn, Chicken Inn and Nandos, all owned by Innscor, were closed Monday. Workers could be seen hanging around the companies premises while the doors were locked to members of the public. The take-away giant relies mainly on customers who pay for their food using swipe cards and adding to Innscor’s problems is that it also relies on the RTGS system to pay its suppliers. Muchemwa reported Monday that Innscor officials were awaiting word from the central bank on what to do, now that their operations had come to a stand still.
The business sector was thrown into chaos Friday after Central Bank Governor Gideon Gono announced a ban on electronic money transfers. Gono claimed; ‘We have no option but to take this drastic measure in order to maintain sanity in the financial system.’ He further claimed the electronic transfers were, ‘being used for illicit foreign exchange deals’ and by businesses ‘to overprice their goods and services.’
Thousands of jobs are on the line as different companies struggle to operate under the new monetary rules. Chronic cash shortages mean people spend many hours in queues at the bank to get near worthless money. The ever falling value of the Zimbabwe dollar had forced people to turn to foreign currency and electronic transfers had become a means to buy that forex. Muchemwa said people were still using bank cheques to buy forex and it remained to be seen if Gono would ban these as well.
There is general confusion over what is allowed and what is not, in the banking sector. Banks are still unsure whether internal transfers within the same bank are allowed or whether internet banking is banned or not. Those using cheques know the 5 or so days they take to clear, wipes out the value given the fact that the country has the world’s highest inflation ever.
It doesn’t rain but it pours for Zimbabweans struggling to survive, as on Monday last week the maximum cash withdrawal was raised from Z$1000 to Z$20000, but this immediately triggered a wave of massive price increases. With no meaningful political or economic reforms, the central bank policies remain nothing more than pointless fire-fighting strategies.
Post published in: News