TONIGHT ON LIVETALK: Central bank governor John Mangudya has unveiled financial sector policies meant to strengthen banks while boosting the government’s economic blue-print, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Social and Economic Transformation (ZIMASSET). In his Monetary Policy Statement, Mangudya said liquidity problems among banks meant foreign banks and larger local lenders would have to raise their minimum capital to $100 million by 2020 from the current $25 million. He noted that foreign investment into Zimbabwe plunged 59 percent to $67 million in the first half of this year, reflecting worries over President Robert Mugabes policies and the risk of investing in his country. This comes at a time when President Mugabe is in China where his government reportedly signed nine major deals with the Chinese meant to resuscitate the economy. Official data indicate that China has extended $1 billion in loans to Zimbabwe since 2009 and trade between the two nations rose to $1 billion last year from $300 million five years ago. Several companies in Zimbabwe have failed to pay salaries or have closed altogether, in a country where only 500,000 out of a total 13 million people hold formal jobs.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 14:00:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015