By Alois Vinga
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa Thursday inspected the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) vaults with officials informing him Zimbabwe has 1.1 tonnes of gold.
The tour was part of the handover of the key assets from the outgoing governor Dr John Mangudya to the incoming Dr John Mushayavanhu. The visit was aimed at taking stock of the gold and cash reserves held by the bank.
Zimbabwe has 1.5 tonnes of gold kept offshore, “enough” to back the Zimbabwean dollar – said Finance Ministry Permanent Secretary George Guvamatanga.
Addressing delegates shortly after the tour Mnangagwa said his administration transformed how the central bank operates.
“In the past, we did not have any reserves or commodities reserved here at the RBZ, so I gave instructions that 10% of our minerals be kept in solid commodities. If it is platinum, we convert 10% of the platinum into gold.
“Other minerals which we cannot keep physically, we were going to convert that to gold,” he said.
Mnangagwa also revealed that the practice of physical handover was in line with the Second Republic’s thrust to ensure smooth transitions.
The tour comes shortly before the unveiling of the much-awaited Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) which is expected Friday.
Dr Mushayavanhu has a mammoth task ahead of him in the wake of volatile ZWL stability which has so far lost over 70% of its value leaving the ordinary folk reeling under severe hardships as they struggle to eke out a decent lifestyle.
Information at hand however indicates that he is set to implement a raft of measures which among them include the inception of a Structured Currency in a bid to inspire confidence while in the process pursuing a lasting solution for local currency instability.
