The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has doubled the withdrawal limit of bond notes to $100 per day as well as introducing $12 million more of the surrogate currency to smoothen transactions during the festive season.
In a statement yesterday, RBZ governor John Mangudya said bond notes worth $12m were disbursed last week. This brings to $29m the total amount of bond notes disbursed from commencement on November 28 to December 16.
Before the review, a depositor would withdraw a maximum of $50 in bond notes per day and $150 per week.
“In view of this positive development and the need to ensure that the banking public is not continuously constrained by the lower withdrawal limits on bond notes of $25 and $50 per day, the bank has, with immediate effect, increased the daily bond note withdrawal limit to $100 per day or $300 per week for banks that have instituted weekly withdrawal limits. We trust that these measures will go a long way towards making [it] easy for the public to transact during the festive season,” Mangudya said
The bond notes were introduced under a 5% export incentive facility with an envelope of $200m and guaranteed by the African Export-Import Bank.
Mangudya said all tobacco growers who sold their tobacco this year through the auction floors, including contracted tobacco growers, have now benefited from the 5% export incentive scheme. This move is expected to provide impetus to tobacco farmers to continue with both reaping and processing of this year’s tobacco crop, he said.
The RBZ boss said the bank was “encouraged by the smooth circulation within the domestic economy of bond notes which were primarily introduced to finance the export incentive scheme of up to 5% payable to exporters of goods and services and Diaspora remittances”.
A cumulative total of $6,2m bond notes have been deposited by the banking public as at December 16.
“Against this background, bond notes shall fortuitously and subserviently go a long way to mitigate cash shortages within the economy. Clearing of cash queues at banks can never be an overnight event. It is a process,” Mangudya said.
Source-Newsday