Govt reads riot act on parastatals

GOVERNMENT has warned departments and parastatals accused of charging for services exclusively in foreign currency, saying they are acting outside the law.

Speaking in Parliament during a question and answer session, Finance deputy minister David Mnangagwa (pictured) said parastatals should consider receiving payments in local currency.

“According to our multi-currency regime, the policy is, anyone trading would be able to charge in any currency they want, but when you receive, you are supposed to receive any other currency, be it the Zimbabwean dollar or foreign currency,” Mnangagwa told Parliament.

“So, if there are other government departments or parastatals that are only charging in foreign currency, they are operating outside the law.

“Let me hasten to say, at the moment in our country, with regards to our currency, the exchange rate is what is problematic. This is why you will discover that some government departments will be operating as if they are digressing from government policy. “

Mnangagwa said they are currently seeking to address the problem through the long-awaited Monetary Policy Statement which is still on the drawing board.

“By the time we issue the statement, there will be collective measures that will include any policies that may not be followed at the moment,” said the deputy minister. On rising inflation, Mnangagwa said the rising components of the prices are usually tied to the Zimbabwe dollar component. “Government is going through some currency reforms; and some reforms of our exchange rate management systems, this will be coming through the Monetary Policy Statement in the next few weeks.

“So, we would like our Parliamentarians to be patient and wait for that Monetary Policy Statement that will have some reforms that will speak to the rising inflation and exchange rate volatility,” Mnangagwa added.