Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr. John Mangudya has told Parliamentarians that the current challenges facing the nation are because there is no production in Zimbabwe.
The governor was presenting on the links between the Ministry of Finance’s fiscal measures and the RBZ monetary policy.
“There is no country in the world which can have a strong currency without a strong base,” Mangudya said.
“If you are producing nothing you can’t have a higher currency that is very strong. Therefore the challenge that we are facing of foreign currency shortages is because of us not working very hard.”
The central bank governor also gave statistics on the importation of goods that can be produced in Zimbabwe.
“We consume in this country 10 million litres of cooking oil on a monthly basis,” Mangudya said. “that 10 million litres of cooking oil that we are consuming in this country, we are only supplying one month of soya bean to produce.” (sic)
“So 11 months of the year we are importing crude soya oil.”
“On bread in this country, we are supplying wheat for 3 months, 9 months we are importing wheat and therefore we need more money to ensure that we import that which is basic commodity for this country,” Mangudya went on (sic).
Mangudya speaks of low production in the country as three mines close down due to foreign currency shortages.
Wheat production will be low this year due to the reduced number of hectares of land allocated to the grain.
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