Gono rejects calls to quit

Gono rejects calls to quit

GONO

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By Lebo Nkatazo

RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) chief Gideon Gono said Thursday he was under pressure to quit, and conceded that the printing of trillions of dollars has not helped to turn around the economy.

Gono, talking to MPs, also hit out at his critics in parliament and the ruling Zanu PF party who opposed his economic revival strategy, saying they were misguided.

He singled out those who were calling for the establishment of a foreign currency allocation committee for most criticism.

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget and Finance headed by Guruve North MP David Butau (Zanu PF) opposed the managing of forex by one man and said Gono must also account for the RBZ's quasi- fiscal activities in a report presented to parliament this week.

The Zanu PF economic committee tabled similar recommendations at the party’s conference in December last year.

Gono appeared before the Budget and Finance Committee on Thursday to face his critics.

“They say the governor is big-headed, he has got ambition. Some hide behind the camouflage of the legislature and bring out their spears so that the governor can be moved. Not before my term is finished!” Gono thundered.

“We offer no apologies for interfering in all spheres of the economy. We offer no apology for doing the unorthodox. Those who wrote economic textbooks never experienced Zimbabwe’s land reform.”

The governor said for as long as parastatals, local authorities and other government departments went to the RBZ to beg for money, he would have an interest on how the money is spent.

“I hardly have a good sleep at night. I sleep facing the stars…why should we be importing food when the RBZ has printed trillions and trillions? We are being told that we cannot produce because we are susceptible to drought,” Gono said.

Gono also rejected the formation of foreign exchange allocation committees to manage the scarce foreign currency in the country, calling such a recommendation "illogical".

He said: “It is therefore, illogical and misguided for some sections of society to recommend to government the formation of foreign exchange allocation committees thinking that this would in itself solve the prevailing foreign currency shortages.”

Zimbabwe is going through its worst economic recession in history, with record inflation of 3714 percent and massive unemployment.

President Robert Mugabe and the Reserve Bank blame the decline on sanctions imposed by Western countries, but his critics point to the botched land reform exercise which saw bands of Mugabe's loyalists march on commercial farmland, driving out white farmers and disrupting agriculture.
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