As the Zimbabwe government battles with critical banknote shortages, special courts are to be set up to deal with “economic and financial crimes”, the state-run Sunday Mail reported.
President Robert Mugabe’s government blames the four-month-old shortage of banknotes on hoarders and on the thriving black market for foreign currency, which sees vast quantities of notes being swallowed up.
“The courts will deal with economic crimes and this is expected to ensure that cases are handled speedily. They are expected to start operating soon,” Michael Santu of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe told the paper.
Santu said the courts would seek cooperation with neighbouring countries in a bid to stamp out the externalisation of the Zimbabwe dollar, illegal under Zimbabwe’s laws.
“There is still a lot of money out of the country, especially in Mozambique and Zambia,” Santu said.
He said Zimbabweans were using the notes to buy foreign currency abroad which they then resold on the parallel market at home.
This week the government introduced new 500 dollar banknotes and a new form of currency, bearer cheques, which are only valid until January.
Although bearer cheques appear to have slightly eased bank queues, economists say they have a major drawback: they are easily forged.
“There is a serious danger because they can easily be manufactured using modern machinery such as scanners and photocopiers,” economist John Robertson was quoted as saying in Sunday’s privately-owned Standard newspaper.
Government critics blame the banknote shortages mainly on Zimbabwe’s soaring inflation rate, currently standing at more than 426%. – AFP