THE bond note is supplementing what the banks were already giving to depositors and the maximum withdrawal of the new currency is $50, the central bank explained yesterday.
BY VICTORIA MTOMBA
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, John Mangudya yesterday said the maximum withdrawal limit for bond notes per day is $50, which means if the bank was giving $100, then the bank can give up to $150.
“Bond notes are supplementing what banks were already doing, not substituting,”he said.
Sources in the banking sector yesterday queried the central bank’s decision to introduce bond notes, whose features they were unaware of, saying they were unsure on the modalities of how the currency would work.
RBZ sprung a surprise on Saturday when it announced the introduction of bond notes, which went into circulation today.
In separate interviews yesterday, NewsDay established that the central bank called bankers on Sunday to go to the RBZ cash depot to collect bond notes without any prior meeting on how the notes would work.
“We took the money and distributed to the branches today (yesterday). The branches did not know how the money was to be distributed,” one banker said on condition of anonymity.
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Sources said there was a lot of confusion, as bank tellers needed to understand the features as well as communicate them to the depositors.
“We are sure that people are going to hold on to their US dollars, and we are not sure if we will continue receiving deposits,” a banking source said.
Some banks were issuing out $50 in bond notes and others $50 in United States dollars.
Mangudya said: “There was no ambush at all. That’s normal standard process of introducing new notes. Banks were advised on Sunday.”
Local economist, Prosper Chitambara said the lack of clarity was a big problem and the way the bond notes were introduced was shocking.
“The emergence of the parallel market is certain because the market cannot support 1:1 with the US dollar currency, as it is a loan,” he explained.
Some supermarkets were yesterday refusing bond notes, as they said they were not aware of the features and needed time for their workers to acquaint themselves with the new currency.
The central bank introduced bond notes yesterday and said depositors should get a maximum of $150 bond notes per week.
The bond notes are said to be backed by a $200 million loan facility from the African Export Import Bank.
