Tendai Biti on bond notes

Ex Finance Minister, Tendai Biti says fears of fake bond notes have confirmed that Zimbabwe was now a banana republic.

“Nobody has ever seen them and he [Chinamasa] says there are counterfeits [being printed]. We know what these people [Zanu PF] are capable of doing,” he said.

“How do you have counterfeit notes when the notes have not been released onto the market?”

Addressing guests at a budget seminar in Bulawayo last week, Chinamasa said counterfeit bond notes were already being printed by unscrupulous people bent on scuttling their acceptance by the public, yet even specimens of the bond notes have not yet been availed to the public.

But, RBZ governor Dr Mangudya dismissed as untrue claims by Chinamasa that counterfeit bond notes were already being printed. The RBZ governor said this on the sidelines of a pre-budget seminar in Bulawayo yesterday.

Bond notes have failed to win the confidence of the public ahead of their release this month.  Central bank governor John Mangudya is on record saying there would be an independent board that would monitor the printing of bond notes. The board has not even been appointed.

The central bank began awareness campaigns last week to provide information to the public ahead of the launch of the bond notes.

Source: Online