Retailers have pledged to approach banks to get ZiG coins and small-denomination notes to help resolve the shortage of small change, reported The Herald.
On Tuesday, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor, John Mushayavanhu, met wholesalers and retailers in Harare to discuss issues affecting the economy.
During the meeting, CZR president Denford Mutashu said the retail sector had embraced the ZiG more than any other sector in the economy but the dominance of the US dollar is negatively affecting them. He said:
Unfortunately, at the procurement level, 80 per cent is US dollars and 20 per cent is ZiG, so that is a glitch in the market because it is affecting day-to-day procurement patterns of formal channel retailers and wholesalers… and it is the informal market, which is currently enjoying the benefits of having not formalised their business.
We are quite happy with this dialogue because the Governor agreed to meet retailers and wholesalers and that is actually in line with the President’s engagement and re-engagement dialogue.
On the issue of change that we are currently experiencing, as the Governor has highlighted, we are going to approach the banks to address this.
Mushayavanhu acknowledged that the Reserve Bank had received reports of consumers failing to get change from shops. He said:
We are getting complaints that people are coming and they buy something for US$1,50 and instead of you giving them 50 cents change, you are asking them to add a bottle of water, which they don’t need.
I did say yesterday when I met the transport operators, that as we speak right now, we have got ZiG55 million in circulation.
This is more than the amount that was in circulation when we had bond notes. We have issued ZiG1, ZiG2, ZiG5 coins and ZiG10 and ZiG20 notes.
The question I want to ask you is: ‘Have you gone to your bank and said I want a float in change,’ because my knowledge of supermarkets is that you should have a float.
Have you gone to your bank and said I want ZiG100 000 in ZiG1, ZiG2, ZiG5 and they said they don’t have it because I have evidence that they are sitting on ZiG coins for which there are no takers?
So, who is not telling the correct story there? Have we gone to the banks and they said they haven’t got it?
Let us know, we can intervene and say, which is your bank and will give your bank exactly the ZiG coins that you want.
The issue of change has also affected the transport sector, with passengers on 50c routes forced to pay US$1 or being paired up with strangers who would have paid US$1 and have to buy snacks from street vendors.
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