Published by the government of Zimbabwe
4 August 2008
Harare — THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has slammed banks running out of cash following the increase in cash withdrawal limits from $10 to $200 on Friday, saying the central bank has enough banknotes to cope with demand.
Those banks who failed to cope either failed to provide adequate funds to cover their banknote withdrawals from the Reserve Bank or did not collect the banknotes they had ordered on time, RBZ said in a statement yesterday.
"Some banking institutions are camouflaging their poor planning as 'system' challenges, yet they failed to fund or provide adequate collateral to cover their cash requirements," said the statement.
"Some banking institutions made cash bookings at the central bank but failed to collect due to poor logistical arrangements by their cash depots.
"The delays to collect cash from the central bank adversely affected the distribution of cash from central cash depots to outlying branches."
RBZ said the public should not panic because the central bank has sufficient cash reserves to meet demand.
"As monetary authorities, we remain committed to ensuring financial sector stability and any institution or person found carrying out nefarious activities bent on reversing our policy interventions will be dealt with accordingly," said the RBZ statement.
Long queues started forming outside most banks and building societies on Friday following last Wednesday's presentation of the 2008 Mid-term Monetary Policy Statement by RBZ Governor Dr Gideon Gono.
In his statement, Dr Gono announced the launch of a new currency consisting of coins and notes in the following denominations: $1, $5, $10, $20, $25, $100 and $500.
He also reviewed the cash withdrawal limit from $100 billion (old currency) a day to $200 in the new currency.
Several banks ran out of cash around midday, much to the chagrin of those who were still waiting for their turn to withdraw money.
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