CBZ chairman Noah Matimba raises the need for policymakers to expedite initiatives to rebuild public and investor confidence as the country’s economy is noticeably at an inflection point (an event that results in a significant change in the progress of an economy).
Initiatives to rebuild public and investor confidence include strengthening governance of public institutions, normalising international relations and pursuing coherent and consistent fiscal and monetary policies according to the chairman’s statement in the Financial Results for the Half Year ended 30 June 2018.
“These will, undoubtedly, create a stable macroeconomic environment, which in turn will promote further private and public sector investments in the productive and social sectors of the economy,” Matimba says.
Policies such as the Indigenisation Act have been blamed for the low investor confidence in Zimbabwe.
Lack of public confidence has been labelled as the reason why there are low cash deposits in financial institutions.
Current Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa is on record linking the inefficient flow of cash to confidence.
“When you have that situation, where money is just being withdrawn and not being re-deposited, it means that the circulation is inefficient and you cannot run the economy that way and when we inquire into the reasons, it actually boils down to lack of trust and confidence,” Chinamasa said.
Cash shortage has caused long queues for banks with limited cash amounts of withdrawals on banks.
Zimbabwe’s economy is yet to fully recover from economic challenges facing the country even though there has been a change in leadership.
“During the second half of the year, the direction of the economy will largely depend on the status of the soio-potical environment,” Matimba said.
