OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Saturday
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s government on Friday seized all privately-held foreign currency in commercial bank accounts, mostly to pay the overdue salaries for state officials based abroad, the central bank announced.
A brief statement on state television said that both private and corporate foreign currency accounts (FCA) held at commercial banks were closed with effect from Friday morning. Bank officials said foreign currency trading stopped immediately.
Financial sources estimated that up to $50m worth of hard currency was held in FCAs. Bank officials said account holders would be paid back in Zimbabwe currency, at the rate of US$1 to Z$55. Nearly all hard currency sales in the last four months have been at the legal parallel rate of US$1=Z$70.
Twenty-five percent of the foreign currency seized would be used to pay for fuel imports, while the balance would go to pay salary arrears for officials of the foreign ministry on service abroad, the statement said.
Earlier this week the government said officials on foreign postings had not been paid for five months because of the country’s critical shortage of hard currency.
It has meant the revoking of a range of special foreign currency facilities for the ailing mining and tobacco industries, the biggest earners of foreign exchange.
Analysts expressed surprise at the relatively small amount allocated to fuel imports at a time when fuel supplies were reaching the lowest levels since December 1999 when international oil companies shut off deliveries to Zimbabwe after non-payment of arrears on fuel bills.
Banking sources said Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe officials said in private meetings on Friday that the measure was “a suspension” of the accounts, that would be allowed to resume again “in a couple of weeks”.
Foreign currency accounts were introduced as part of economic liberalisation measures in the early 90s, but have been progressively clamped down on in the last year.
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