The deposit of actual United States dollar has now shot up to about US$600 million.
This comes after the separation of real time gross settlement (RTGS) foreign currency accounts from actual United States dollar accounts. This was said by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Deputy Director for Economic Research Dr Nebson Mupunga yesterday during a breakfast meeting organised by the Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe (Emcoz) in Harare. Said Mupunga:
In the same account, we were depositing RTGS and US dollars, there was pressure in terms of the actual US dollar. That is why as the Central Bank we took the decision to separate the accounts so as to preserve value and so as to attract those with actual hard cash to deposit in the banking sector and this has actually started paying dividends as you see. Now, nostro FCA deposits are on an increase to around US$600 million from maybe around $130 million.
Mupunga said the increase in nostro FCA deposits is largely attributed to rising confidence in the financial services sector by individuals and corporates.
More: Chronicle