Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya has revealed that the central bank has now released bond notes worth $175 million in an effort to counter cash shortages. This means that only $25 million is left from the $200 million Afreximbank facility. The apex bank lately released $15 million worth of bond notes to add to the $160 million bond notes which were reported in June.
Speaking at the official opening of the Grant Thornton headquarters in Harare on Tuesday, Mangudya said:
We have $175 million of bond notes and, as to our estimates, we have about $600 million of currency under the multi currency, which is in mainly United States dollars, in the market and that comes to around $800 million.
If you compare the $800 million dollars with the amount which is usable balances, bank balances that are usable as measured by real time gross settlement (RTGS) transactions, which is about $1,5 billion, if we divide $800 million by the $1,5 or $1,6 billion (RTGS) that is about 50%.
So, if you have more than 40% of cash within the economy versus the $1,5 or $1,6 billion of RTGS balances that is sufficient liquidity in the economy.
The RBZ is in talks with Afreximbank to increase the amount of bond notes from the $200 million which was initially reported to have been agreed on.
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