President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed top-ranked banker, John Mushayavanhu, as the new governor of the central bank, almost a month before the end of John Mangudya's term of office.
Announcing the appointment in a government gazette on Thursday, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said Mnangagwa appointed the new governor in terms of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act (Chapter 22:15) for a period of five years ending in March, 2029.
Mnangagwa initially announced Mushayavanhu's appointment in December but could not immediately take over the post due to Mangudya's delayed departure.
Mushayavanhu, with over 30 years of experience in the banking sector, declined to comment on his appointment and Mangudya was unreachable as he was not responding to calls on his mobile phone.
The new governor is expected to announce his policy measures to contain rising inflation and depreciating Zimbabwe dollar. A United States dollar was on Thursday fetching up to ZWL$42,000 on the black market and just over half of that amount in the official money market.
High inflation has resulted in serious macro-economic instability in Zimbabwe with spiraling prices of basic commodities and depressed industrial capacity production, negatively affecting millions of people.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Deputy Finance Minister Kuda Mnangagwa said a surge in the exchange rate was linked to speculation on the RBZ's Monetary Policy Statement, expected to be announced within the next few days.
Mnangagwa said, "We have been receiving enquiries about the surge in the exchange rate, which right now can be attributed to the anxiety and anticipation of the upcoming Monetary Statement that is around the corner. If I were to irresponsibly give unsolicited advice, I would urge Zimbabweans with their hard-earned ZWL not to hedge against it. Government is committed to ensuring that there will be no loss of value through the introduction of currency stabilization measures."
Economic commentator Rejoice Ngwenya of the Common Market for Liberal Solutions said Mushayavanhu is expected to come up with prudent monetary policies that would curb high inflation and a further depreciation of the value of the Zimbabwean dollar.
"He should not follow quasi-fiscal policies being touted by the ruling party because that spells disaster for the country. He is a professional banker who is expected to use his wide experience in stabilizing the inflation rate and crumbling local dollar. Otherwise, he may end up looking like a driver of a vehicle without fuel."
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Business executives are also livid over Mushayavanhu's appointment with some noting that Zimbabwe needs to fix the country's economic fundamentals first before thinking of curbing galloping inflation and depreciating local dollar.
"All we need," said top businessman and Nyamandlovu farmer Japhet Mpofu, "is high production levels supported by availability of electricity."
Mpofu, a former hotelier, said most businesses need state support in terms of getting adequate electricity and other necessary infrastructure.
"At the moment some of us have ended up installing solar energy in an effort to tackle power issues and in some cases it's not possible to depend on electricity as power switched off anytime. This is very bad for businesses. We have come up with other ways of surviving under these difficult times. The basic thing we need to do as a country is to produce goods for big national and international markets and this can only be done through government support in providing energy and having good monetary policies."
Zimbabwe is one of the largest producers of gold, diamonds, platinum and other minerals.
