Banks to roll out incentives for depositors
Senior Reporter
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and the banking sector are coming up with the nuts and bolts of interest payments on demand deposits to encourage people to deposit money in banks, rather than bury it under their pillows, RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya told a Parliamentary committee this week.
Dr Mangudya told the Parliament’s portfolio committee on Finance, Budget and Economic Development that RBZ had finalised consultations with the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe and would soon be able to make the required announcement.
The committee, chaired by Buhera Central MP Dr Mathew Nyashanu (ZANU PF), wanted to know what the Reserve Bank was doing to compel businesses to deposit takings in banks instead of keeping it under their pillows.
Zimbabwe: One vast informal business
Downtown Harare. PHOTO Sadat Sanhehwe
Zimbabwe’s economy has seen a drastic collapse since 2000. Once a fairly highly industrialised country, Zimbabwe is now a vast informal economy after the collapse of its once-thriving manufacturing and agricultural sectors.
Industry is operating at 30% of its capacity. Since 2011, more than 6,000 companies have closed shop, rendering hundreds of thousands unemployed, according to a 2016 Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) study. The CZI is the umbrella body of the manufacturing industry.
Hundreds of thousands of school leavers are graduating with no hope of formal employment, the CZI says. Unemployment now hovers around 85% and for many, the only hope is now in the informal sector.
Bloodbath in banking sector
A bloodbath is beckoning in the banking sector with several local lenders eliminating jobs as part of drastic actions to curtail spiralling costs and rationalise their operations in a difficult operating environment.
The job carnage could turn to be worse in the second half of the year as more lenders are expected to put more employees on the chopping block in response to the realities of soaring costs, digitisation and Covid-19 pandemic, which have piled misery on the banks.
Zimbabwe Banks and Allied Workers Union assistant secretary general Shepherd Ngandu, sounded the alarm bells over the job carnage in the sector.
By Ray Ndlovu
(Bloomberg) – Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa vowed to take unspecified action against companies in the financial services industry that he accused of profiteering.
“There are sharks in the financial sector,” Mnangagwa was quoted as saying by government spokesman Nick Mangwana on Twitter. “We now know who they are. We are dealing with them.”
Mangwana didn’t immediately respond Monday to a text message seeking further comment. Mnangagwa didn’t identify the companies he was talking about.
“There are sharks in the Financial Sector. We now know who they are. We are dealing with them” President @edmnangagwa Watch on @ZBCNewsonline or @ZTNnews on Independence Eve (17/04/2021) pic.twitter.com/ndATZm8Kgg
Zimbabwe President Warns of Crackdown on Financial Sector thezimbabwemail.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thezimbabwemail.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.