RBZ zooms on bank-shy shops, cash barons

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is set to clamp-down on retail shops that are hoarding cash for commission while contributing to the cash shortages in the country.

Responding to allegations that some shops in Harare kept cash for dealers to swipe an equivalent amount, RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya condemned the acts of indiscipline.

“That practice reflects the high level of indiscipline that has crept into the economy that we have continued to speak about. The situation that you have explained sounds to be a well organised syndicate that involves the retail outlet in question,” Dr Mangudya said.

He said the monetary authorities would investigate that malpractice which he described as highly counterproductive.

According to sources, shop managers at one leading retail outlet give cash dealers a huge chunk of the daily cash they would have collected while the later swipe an equivalent value and paying a commission for their cash.

“The dealers have a number of agents who were also operating outside a number of our main big shops doing exactly the same transactions,” the sources said. The dealers sell the cash at a premium. “This means the cash will never get to the bank and the queues will continue to grow. I think we need to go big on these guys.”

Dr Mangudya recently accused alleged unscrupulous traders of hoarding the bond notes accusing them of being possessed by the demon of arbitrage with a high propensity to trade in the parallel market.

He further warned that such malpractices could not be tolerated.

The RBZ chief said the national bank had intensified monitoring mechanisms to ensure that traders comply with the provisions of the Bank Use Promotion Act (Chapter 24:24).

The Act requires all traders to bank any surplus cash within prescribed timeframes and to keep records of cash receipts and payments on each day.

This also designed to ensure that money circulates within the economy.

Barons were being a cash shortage that hit Zimbabwe, especially in the year 2007 with then RBZ Governor Dr Gideon Gono accusing them of holding on to the cash.

In that year, Zimbabwe had $67 trillion in circulation while the RBZ could only account for $2 trillion, leaving the remainder in the hands of cash barons.

The RBZ has acknowledged the cash shortage as evidenced by queues at some banks and automated teller machines (ATMs).

It further notes that these have been caused low levels of use of plastic money and the real time gross settlement (RTGS) platforms.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa recently said Government had introduced various measures to address the liquidity challenges.

These measures, according to Minister Chinamasa, include promoting the use of electronic payments — plastic money — to reduce pressure on the demand for physical cash.

He said Government was also encouraging people to fully embrace the multi-currency system by trading in other currencies in the multi-currency basket as a way of reducing reliance of the US dollar.