Mangudya speaks on RBZ early exit
FORMER governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) John Mangudya says the fast tracking of John Mushayavanhu's arrival at the central bank as his successor was done to ensure a seamless handover.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week formalised the appointment of Mushayavanhu as the new governor before the end of Mangudya’s term, which was set to expire on April 30.
In an exclusive interview with Standardbusiness, Mangudya said he was planning to take a brief leave before assuming his new role as Mutapa Investment Fund chief executive officer.
“The president did very well. I think after this transition, I need to take a bit of leave because as you know I am going to Mutapa, so I think it was very fair and good to do so,” he said.
“That was the best thing. When you do a changeover at governor level — just imagine if the president had done this on May 1.
“It means, in terms of handover, it would have become very difficult because I will be starting at a new job.”
Commenting on how he felt at the end of his 10-year tenure, Mangudya said that he was excited for what came next.
“I am so excited because I finished my 10-year tenure, which I do believe that we did the best which you could do, which we could do for the economy and for a stable central bank and a stable economy,” he said.
“Now, I am going to the real economy where I am going to ensure we safeguard national assets and at the same time sweat them to ensure we get value and wealth for Zimbabwe.
“And this is a long-term strategy to ensure that there is sustainable stability in the country.”
The transition period from Mangudya to Mushayavanhu will be completed next month.
“Therefore, I would like to wish Mushayavanhu great success at the bank and great success to him,” Mangudya said.
“My advice for anyone at the central bank or Treasury is that we need to stay the course to stabilise the economy. The fundamentals of this economy remain strong.”
He touted some of his accomplishments during his 10-year running of the RBZ, which include financial stability, financial inclusion, supporting banks to remain capitalised, and support to exporters.
“The area where we continued to work very hard was the exchange rate because in this economy there were structural challenges causing instability,” Mangudya said.
“This was mainly because we are using the multicurrency system where people wanted a store of value in this economy.”
He said the need for a proper store of value was what caused the volatility in the exchange rate as most opted for the US dollar as a store of value over the local currency.
“I feel honoured by His Excellency, the president, for having given me the chance to serve Zimbabwe in the capacity as the governor of the central bank,” Mangudya said.
“So, thanks go to his Excellency, the president, the cabinet, and the entire presidium, all the colleagues at the central bank who I have been working with collectively, the board of the central bank with whom I do believe I had a very good rapport with, working together as a family of the entire central bank.”
RBZ monetary policy committee member Persistence Gwanyanya said he had confidence in Mushayavanhu as a veteran, astute banker and a man of integrity.
“Importantly, Mushayavanhu has a good understanding of financial and economic matters that we face as an economy today.
“He is not coming to RBZ to learn, but to carry over from his predecessor, Mangudya,” he said.
“More importantly, Mushayavanhu is coming into RBZ with the full knowledge of the enormity of the task that lies ahead, and l am sure he is prepared to face the challenge.
“Mushayavanhu is assuming the office of the governor at a time when mineral prices have fallen to historic low levels and at a time the country is confronted by drought, all of which have far reaching consequences on currency stability.”
He pleaded with everyone to support Mushayavanhu in his new role.
United Kingdom-based economist Chenayimoyo Mutambasere said it was hard to comment on what type of change Mushayavanhu would bring given the delays in the unveiling of a new monetary policy statement (MPS).
The MPS was supposed to have been released in February.
“It’s hard to comment since we haven’t had a monetary statement, we can’t confidently say whether or not his skill and experiences will capacitate him to deliver the monetary policy committee’s aspirations. They are as yet unknown,” she said.
“However, the country is in desperate need for a clear policy statement — we need to address the currency question.
“Multicurrency is not serving us well. The new governor should address this and not continue to railroad the country through this path.”
She added: “We need to declutter from a structural perspective in addition to multicurrency we also have gold coins and digital currency both of which have failed to address inflation and currency issues in this economy.”