President, Emerson Mnangagwa, has labelled money changers (currency dealers) as a national security threat, warning that his Government will take drastic measures against such traders as the country’s economy is on the down side.
The last two weeks saw the bond note suffer heavy battering against the greenback on the parallel market, with its exchange rate touching new lows.
The surrogate currency was trading at over 400 percent against the United States dollar yesterday, compared to 180 percent at the beginning of the month.
“A great threat to our bid to stimulate productive activity in the economy comes by way of non-productive, speculative activities operating below the radar but involving millions in precious foreign currency and bond notes,” Mnangagwa said through state media on Sunday.
“To that end, this problem is now being treated as a serious security threat which requires a different response so that we get back to clean, productive and disciplined economic activity operating within norms and rules of the market,” he said.
Inflation has been on the rampage in Zimbabwe, with Zimstats saying the yearly inflation rate for August surged to 4.8 percent.
Cash barons have agents that employ dealers to buy and sell cash at a premium.
In what is becoming a lucrative speculative trend on the parallel market, anybody with access to cash is now selling at a premium.
The trend obtaining on the black market is particularly reflective of the cash shortage prevalent in the economy today.
