Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya said that he does not regret introducing the surrogate currency, the bond note.
The introduction of the bond note was announced on 4 May 2016 by Mangudya. The total value of the notes is said to be backed by a $200 million Africa Export-Import Bank (AFREXIM) facility.
Asked by senior Standard reporter Xolisani Ncube if he regretted the introduction of the bond note, Mangudya said:
No, not at all. The introduction of bond notes did not worsen foreign currency shortages. That’s a myth and fiction.
Bond notes were introduced to monetise the export incentive scheme, which greatly assisted the growth in exports over the past three years by an average of 25% per year.
Cushioning exporters by between 5% and 20% is meant to make exporters competitive and to increase foreign currency generation.
That policy cannot, therefore, cause shortages of foreign currency. In fact, the opposite is true.
The country needs to increase production and productivity across all the sectors of the economy in order to increase and conserve foreign currency.