The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has threatened to name and shame errant borrowers of large sums of money from the banking sector who are driving the exchange rate volatilities.
The Zimbabwe dollar has been losing value on the parallel market with authorities attributing the recent spike in the exchange rates on money supply growth from bank clients who borrowed for speculative purposes.
In a tweet Wednesday afternoon, the Bank said it is in the public interest to publicize borrowers of huge stocks of money.
“In the wake of manipulation of the exchange rate by some borrowers of large amounts to the detriment of consumers, the Bank reserves the right to publish the names of significant borrowers across the banking sector in the public interest,” wrote the RBZ.
This follows the announcement by President Emmerson Mnangagwa over the weekend to suspend lending by banks as part of measures meant to rein in on borrowers who are borrowing to purchase foreign currency on the parallel market.
Currently, banks are not allowed to lend.
Observes however say the stop-gap measures being issued by the Central Bank are not enough to deal with the currency crisis in the economy.
Earlier this week, a leading business chamber, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) criticized government of blaming corporates for the depreciation of the local currency when it was in fact the major driver of exchange rate movements through its bulk payments of its national projects.
In September last year, the RBZ published names of and banned 30 foreign currency dealers.
Critics say these antics will not yield currency stability when the key economic fundamentals are not yet in place such as public confidence in the financial sector, eradication of corruption, confidence in the Zimbabwe Dollar and sustainable and consistent policy guidance.
