Tafadzwa Nyikadzino

Government has announced that it will maintain tight fiscal policy measures to consolidate the currency stability and surging inflation being enjoyed by the country for the past few months.

In a statement, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development said the aggressive measures which were adopted in the pre-election period saw the Zimbabwean dollar gaining its value against the United States Dollars.

On 29 May, the Zimbabwean Dollar traded at $1: Zwl6000. But this month, its is at $1:Zwl4500 which highlights a positive impact on policy interventions from government. The same period saw the month on month inflation falling from +30% in June to -15% in July.

“Government, in this post election period is committed to ensure that such macroeconomic stability endures and is sustainable through the implementation of sound macroeconomic policies, to achieve envisaged economic growth targets.

“In this regard, the government will continue with tight fiscal monetary policy measures which include, adopting all external liabilities , increasing retention on foreign currency sales by 100%, Promoting the use of domestic currency and making sure that there is no backlog in the foreign currency auction system,” reads the statement.

To encourage the banking of foreign currency in the informal sector, Government said it will push for statutory levies to be paid in local currency. Electricity bills and utilities will also continue to be collected in Zimbabwean dollars.

To enforce these measures, government said it will work with the Financial Intelligence Unit to stern speculative activity in the economy.