/ 19 November 2009

Zim Parliament passes Bill to reform central bank

Zimbabwe’s lower house of Parliament on Wednesday passed a Bill to reform central bank operations that will reduce the powers of its governor, blamed by critics for the country’s economic crisis.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill will see the governor no longer chairing the bank’s board, a parliamentary official said.

An independent board chair will be appointed and a monetary policy committee will be set up, to be chaired by the bank governor, according to the bill, which will now be debated in the Senate.

Gideon Gono, a close ally of President Robert Mugabe, was re-appointed as Reserve Bank governor last December even though his policies left the local currency so worthless that it was abandoned.

His tenure at the helm of the Reserve Bank saw inflation soar from already staggering four-digit figures when he took office in 2003 to numbers estimated in many multiples of billions last year.

The government finally abandoned the currency in January and now uses US dollars as its currency of reference.

Gono also stands accused of siphoning off state money into secret accounts in Asia and Europe, a charge he denies.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party, which holds a slim general assembly majority, lists Gono’s retention as one of the key outstanding issues that has plagued the unity government with long-term rival Mugabe. — Sapa-AFP