Dr John Mangudya has just announced that in Zimbabwe we now have something called RTGS dollars which will trade with the US dollar and other currencies at market determined exchange rates. Questions asked after the presentation reflect that there is still some bit of confusion over what money is what money in Zimbabwe.
In simple terms, Mangudya says most of the money in our bank accounts is no longer called US dollars. The money is not Zim dollars either, it’s now called RTGS dollars. Yes, it sounds unbelievable that a settlement system is now a currency but this is Zimbabwe.
I said most of the money in our bank accounts because since the beginning of October 2018, banks were instructed to separate bank accounts into what was then called the FCA RTGS account and the FCA Nostro account. Essentially if someone had real physical US dollars in their hand they could deposit it into the nostro account so they could be able to demand it as real physical US dollars. Apart from that your money was not considered to be US dollars although your bank statement called it such.
Money in the FCA RTGS account could only be withdrawn as bond notes or coins when available otherwise you could only use it to buy stuff electronically.
Mangudya now says all that money that was in the RTGS account is now called RTGS dollars. The bond notes are also RTGS dollars as well as the bond coins. So, when you are holding a purple $5 bond note the more accurate term for what’s in your hand is RTGS $5. Maybe we should just shorten it to R$5.
This R$ money is now distinct from the US dollar and will officially trade against it. The laws of supply and demand will dictate what rate the two will trade at any given time.
John Mangudya and his kingdom are just officially acknowledging the obvious. Who didn’t know that the money in our accounts was swapped a long time ago and hence is no longer US dollars?
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So basically nothing has changed except that the compliant banks can now give me US$ to pay school fees at a market determined rate based on supply and demand. So who supplies the USD?
Good question:
the money will probably be coming from same places fueling black market right now
What is the interbank rate?
This government is in the business of impoverishment of Zimbabweans.
Ever since 2000 we have seen ponzi schemes by this government masquerading as monetary policies to the benefit of the elite but destroying the lives of most Zimbabweans.
Where you born yesterday ? Esap. 2008 etc.
Hey Zviyo,are we not too quick to judge?
So my question is when you bought in bonds you said it was to aid the US shortage. Now all that money is RTG bond. So should you not covert our money in the bank for example 3 fold. Or has the Government just taken again.
Guess the question is what are you converting it to.IF you converting to USD i guess yes its 3 fold and will be determined by market which in essence has already been happening.Truth of the matter is bank balances were devalued last year when Mthuli introduced a split between RTGS and FCA although people were in denial then but thats when the devaluing happened.What Mangudya did is just formalise the black market.
Another big denial that people have is they have the USD and its stashed under pillows or somewere,what a huge lie.People dnt have money.The money is literally in the hands of a few politicians who benefit from rate falls and all.
An unpopular opinion i always say is it would have been in the best interest of zimbos if the bond note had succeeded.However it failed and the thieves were looking forward for it to fail and they benefited.Just do an analysis of who benefited from bond notes failure(Politicians of course because they wanted it to fail).
Same will happen with the RTGS devaluing if Zimbos want zim to prosper they have to make sure it works.If the devaluing fails the politician will benefit over and over again.
So in other words our money we earn is still worthless. Given the fact that we don’t get increases to facilitate the shops increase in prices for basic commodities! Come on Zimbabwe Gvt. Wake the hell up and give your people the life they deserve. Or maybe another few decades of criminality?
Zimboz vadzidza this time around. Kuti kuchine muZimba achiri kunetsekana neMaths mazuvaano here. By force just overnight everyone in Zim become economists.