By Alois Vinga
RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya’s ranking on the Central Banker Report Cards 2021 has moved a step up to class C owing to his efforts to arrest spiralling inflation.
The Global Finance rankings compiled by world renowned economists and industrialist each year grades the world’s leading central bankers on a scale of A to F, with A being the highest grade and F the lowest.
The latest rankings show that Mangudya moved a step up from the previous year’s class D.
The global survey acknowledges the positive steps which have managed to achieve relative stability and slowed down inflation.
“Zimbabwe’s central bank has been revelling over its prudent monetary policy stance that has resulted in year-on-year inflation dropping from 837,5% in July 2020 to 50,2% in August 2021. The bank’s monetary policy committee met in August and resolved to stay the course on the current stance, leading to a decision to hold the benchmark rate at 40%,” the report said.
The report also dispels information published earlier by other top global publications like Business Insider and other local media houses which had misinterpreted the RBZ governor’s standing.
Instead, the report also acknowledges earlier optimism expressed by reputable institutions like World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which have since projected economic growth at 3,9%.
The apex banks report index applauded the RBZ for bringing on board local banks to help in the economic recovery trajectory by encouraging their clients to invest in government securities.
“Mangudya has also launched a regulatory sandbox framework to encourage innovations in the fintech’s and further liberalised the operations of bureau de change to promote financial inclusion,” the report said.
Using input from world-renowned analysts, economists and financial industry sources, Global Finance which compiles the index each year, grades the world’s leading central bankers on a scale of A to F, with A being the highest grade and F the lowest.
It says the rankings are “based on a series of objective and subjective metrics, including the appropriate implementation of monetary policy for the economic conditions of each country”.
