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Zimbabweans sleeping at banks
11/12/2007 19:09 - (SA)
Chris Muronzi
Harare - Zimbabweans are now sleeping in bank queues as the country's cash shortages persist, reports said.
A state news agency, New Ziana, reported that increasingly more Zimbabweans are now spending the night in bank queues in a desperate bid to get cash.
Others join the queues as early as dawn but sometimes go home empty handed or with a paltry withdrawal.
Banks have set withdrawal limits of up to Z$20m (R120) for individuals and Z$40m (R240) for companies.
The country's central bank says it is planning a currency changeover in the near future but has not hinted when it would be done.
Central bank chief Gideon Gono says he is deliberately starving the market of cash to fight illegal foreign currency dealers.
But foreign currency dealers have already found a way around the cash problem - they pay a better rate electronically and make out an invoice to avoid trouble with the banks.
The reports also said the public had appealed to banks to extend banking hours but analysts say extending business hours will not help much as most banks run out of cash by mid-day.
Investigations by Fin24 last month revealed that since the cash shortages started, a number of individuals have been buying cash after banks imposed limits.
Say one needs Z$100m (R600) in cash, he/she would have to transfer Z$120m or more electronically, a 20% premium on cash received.
It also emerged that the practice has been prevalent for some time.
After the central bank imposed limits on cash withdrawals last year, individuals and firms have been courting cash-rich individuals and firms for instant cash at a premium.
Mostly fast foods operators and mobile air-time dealers are the "cash barons" smiling all the way to the banks.
Zimbabwe is in the throes of an economic crisis charecterised by high inflation now believed to be above 15 000%. Critics blame President Robert Mugabe for the country's economic crisis.
- Fin24
- Finance24
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