Govt to descend on parallel pricing

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe ( RBZ) amendment Bill currently before Parliament will introduce punitive measures to deal with unscrupulous retailers that have been accused of charging higher prices for goods bought using bond notes and various electronic payment platforms compared to US dollar cash, a Cabinet minister has said.

Pricing irregularities have emerged in the market since the introduction of bond notes in November last year.

To deal with the pricing problem, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa said retailers would be penalised for such practices.

“The RBZ Amendment Bill which is currently before Parliament is coming up with a law to criminalise and penalise that kind of conduct,” he said.

The RBZ Amendment Bill seeks to give legal effect to bond notes that were introduced to help mitigate prevailing cash shortages.

The Bill would amend the RBZ Act to enable the central bank, to issue bond notes exchangeable at par in value with the United States dollar, on the same basis that it previously issued bond coins.

The bond notes are currently in circulation after President Robert Mugabe used the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act to amend the RBZ Act.

The temporary measures regulations will last six months.

So far, the RBZ has released into circulation $1 bond coins and $2 notes amounting to $72 million.

Bond notes are also aimed at encouraging exports, the main source through which Zimbabwe earns foreign currency, with an incentive of up to five percent of the value of export earnings being paid to exporting companies.

The RBZ has rolled out massive campaigns to raise public awareness on the reasons for introducing the surrogate currency as well as warning against counterfeits.

The Central Bank has said it will not be negligent to flood the market with bond notes to avoid fuelling inflation.