Zimbabwe’s President, Emmerson Mnangagwa is struggling to fix the economic woes of his country. But he seems to have identified the cause of the problem.
In an opinion article published in the Sunday Mail in Zimbabwe, President Mnangagwa blamed the crisis partly on “wanton illicit currency deals happening in what is known as the black market.”
Zimbabwe’s economy has been struggling for decades now since the era of former President Robert Mugabe.
President Mnangagwa promised to restore the economy back on track but doesn’t seem to have gotten the solutions yet.
The local currency in theory has the same value as the US dollar. It has been in free fall in recent weeks, raising fears of a return to the hyper-inflation that wrecked national finances in 2009.
Current economic crisis has prevented most shops from stocking their shelves. This is due to panic buying with fast food chains also announcing a halt in their businesses.
The government has introduced taxes on electronic transactions while battling shortage of fuel. A two-cents, tax for every dollar of electronic payments was introduced this month.
I have instructed the Minister of Justice to produce a new set of tough regulations as a matter of urgency so that currency manipulators feel the full weight of the law.
Read my Sunday Mail column:https://t.co/IkI9w5fc6m
— President of Zimbabwe (@edmnangagwa) October 21, 2018
Crackdown on currency manipulators
President Mnanagwa in his opinion article said “We have suffered massive market failures, manifesting in complete collapse of the pricing framework for virtually all commodities, regardless of import component. There has been a run on the bond note.
In all this, there have been no winners, given that at the end of the day we are all consumers who demand and buy goods and services at any one stage for our survival.”
The President claims that “Reports and submissions before me on illicit currency dealings point to an intricate network of currency speculators mostly in high places and in places of trust.”
Mr. Mnanagwa said his country currently doesn’t have “legislation to deal with currency manipulators. We therefore need urgent and robust measures to deal with this financial menace.”
He however promised that there would be “policy changes and key adjustments in different sectors and aspects of the economy, including in the public sector” to resolve the crisis.
Source: Africafeeds.com
