Zimbabwe’s finance minister has dismissed rumours he is at loggerheads with central bank Governor Gideon Gono as the country’s economic crisis deepens, reports said on Tuesday.
In an interview with the state-controlled Herald newspaper, Herbert Murerwa said he had no problems with the feisty Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe chief.
”We consult each other on key policy matters and there has not been any single instance where tension, if at all, boiled over,” said Murerwa.
”I have no time for fights and we will continue working towards achieving this difficult goal of growing the economy,” the minister added.
Rumours of a deepening spat between the two financial bosses came to a head at the weekend when Gono published a 16-page statement defending his bank’s activities, such as the printing of money to shore up a floundering economy now in its sixth year of severe recession.
The statement was seen by many in Zimbabwe as an angry response to Murerwa’s apparent criticism of lavish payouts by the central bank when the minister presented the 2007 budget in Parliament last month.
Murerwa appeared to be trying to rein in the governor when he told ministries they had to make do with their budget allocations and not approach the central bank for additional funds.
The bank chief hit back angrily, publishing what he said was evidence the payments had all been made at the request of Murerwa and other members of President Robert Mugabe’s Cabinet.
In Tuesday’s interview, the finance minister said he was startled at the reports of a bitter quarrel.
”I think the press has always created this misunderstanding between me and the governor,” he said.
Independent economists point out that faced with dwindling tax payments from a shrinking workforce, numerous company closures and declining agricultural output, the government is left with little option but to print money. — Sapa-dpa