Dr Tsvangirai denounces RBZ monetary policy

MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai has dismissed Reserve Bank governor John Mangudya's recent monetary policy statement describing it as "anti-worker and not pro-poor".

In a statement, Tsvangirai, who rose to prominence through the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, said the monetary policy was devoid of any remedy for corruption and sought to further impoverish the poor people.

"The monetary policy statement by the Reserve Bank Governor smacks of a neo-liberal agenda as among other measures it seeks to cause a general wage freeze in Zimbabwe at a time when minimum wages are far below the poverty datum line of USD450 per month.

"The MDC therefore condemns the anti-worker monetary statement. We reject the misplaced view that wages are the only cost drivers. Far from it, public utilities, imports, corruption and profiteering are some of the causes of inflation, not wages.

"The monetary policy statement is clearly anti-worker and not pro-poor," said Tsvangirai.

In his Monetary Policy Statement last week, Mangudya said $20 million would be used for the demonetisation process whereby depositors would each receive a flat amount of $5 as compensation for their lost Zimdollar savings.

"How can millions of Zimbabweans whose Zimdollar bank balances were ravaged by government-induced hyperinflation only get US$5 as compensation? This can only mean that the governor is bereft of any new ideas to deal with the residual effects of hyperinflation," Tsvangirai said.

"The Governor, like his Minister of Finance, are presiding over a comatose economy and no amount of financial engineering is going to reverse deflation and the liquidity crunch. The so-called ‘rebalancing' of the economy is pie in the sky. What needs rebalancing is the politics of the country which makes the economy hostage. The talk of competitiveness in the absence of foreign direct investment (FDI) will not work."

The opposition leader challenged Mangudya to focus his energies on probing the RBZ's $1,3m debt to establish how the central bank accrued the debt.