People’s Democratic Party has accused government and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe of lying to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that they have met their structural quantitative benchmarks.
In a thinly veiled statement released yesterday , PDP Spokesperson, Jacob Mafume said government has failed in its attempt to bring sanity into the economic sector as it is in the habit of lying to the country that all is well yet nothing has been done to try and alleviate the worsening situation.
“In 2015 the Government lied to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it had met its structural quantitative benchmarks. One of those benchmarks was that it would meet and maintain a primary balance in its accounts,” said Mafume while adding that In March 2016 the IMF in a statement in Harare maintained the lie that ZANU PF had indeed met its target.
He said Government has been living dangerously beyond its means and has never respected fiscal discipline nor austerity. It has been financing its insatiable appetite for waste through issuance of toxic treasury bills which are now well in excess of $3billion, he alleges.
Mafume further claimed that government stole bank balances kept at the Central Bank and used the same amount to finance itself.
“The regime did not meet the structural benchmark of a primary balance no matter how disingenuously this may be defined. On the contrary this regime has maintained a terrible budget deficit which we have no doubt is now close to 12 % of GDP. This is why they are cash shortages that have caused havoc across the land,” said the PDP spokesperson.
Mafume said if government was genuine, its plans to introduce bond notes ought to have been disclosed to the IMF ARTCLE IV team that was in Zimbabwe early this year.
“That announcement ought to have been disclosed before the IMF Board that met early this year. The regime did not disclose it. It did what it does best, lie of course. The IMF has no choice but to regard the lie as declaration of non-cooperation.
“The IMF and the rest of the international community must simply understand that it is dealing with liars. Unless of course, it too wants to protect liars. Unless of course, it too wants to promote the lie that there is genuine reform in Zimbabwe, that present day Zimbabwe under chief liar Robert Gabriel Mugabe, can actually pull through some reforms,” he said.
The introduction of the bond notes has been met with skepticism and Mafume vowed that Zimbabweans will reject the bond notes.
“No one is banking anymore. Everyone is getting their money out of the system. Bank deposits have shrunk by more than 50 %. It would have been more if the money was there anywhere.
“Another hurdle that the lying regime will have to cross is that, currency is a function of a country’s reserves. It is a function of the country’s current account.
“With a current account deficit of more than 12 % of GDP Zimbabwe is not ready for its own currency. Zimbabwe would need exports of at least $9 billion and at least another $5 billion in reserve for it to be able to reintroduce the Zimbabwean dollar,” he said.
“The re-engagement process is doomed and the sooner all of them stop lying the better for all Zimbabweans,” fumed Mafume.
