The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor John Mushayavanhu last week struggled to present a concrete plan to deal with wealthy politicians and businesspeople pumping money into the black market.
Illegal forex dealers operating in streets have been a dark shadow derailing the monetary policy direction over the past years due to the tendency of speculating exchange rates and contributing somehow towards depreciation and inflation hikes.
As reported by NewZimbabwe.com just two weeks after the launch of the ZiG currency, the parallel market in Harare's CBD pegged the ZiG official rate at ZiG 16,00 for every US$1 signifying about 19,7% depreciation rate.
When disposing of the greenback, the shadow market ask rate is ranging around ZiG 20,00 signifying a decrease of around 49,7% from the officially recognised exchange rate.
To curb the illicit trades, the central bank working hand in hand with the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) to undertake nationwide arrests on anyone found on the wrong side of the law.
However, despite the efforts illegal forex dealings continue to thrive with many traders managing to evade the law enforcement agents.
Quizzed on what measures are in place to nab the big fish who are fuelling trades as opposed to targeting mere street dealers, Mushayavanhu could not table a concrete plan.
"As far as we are concerned the person we catch is the culprit on the ground and if they have anyone behind them, they should let us know so that we go after that person. At the end of the day we want to get rid of this problem. This is why the police are on the ground," he said.
Asked again on whether the measures are enough, Mushayavanhu instead placed responsibility on banks contrary to expectations that RBZ has to take the lead.
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"Banks also have a surveillance system which tracks how much has been withdrawn and by who. These traders on the parallel market use bank accounts, so we freeze such accounts.
"So, we will definitely nab the account owners. However, it is always good for those who are caught on the streets to tell the police that they are not responsible for the money they have," he said.
Further quizzed on how foreign exchange dealers operating beyond Zimbabwe in neighbouring countries like South Africa and Zambia, the central bank chief was in sixes-and-sevens.
"Obviously it will be difficult to control those outside the country but the message is that those intending to exchange there must not accept an exchange rate which is above the interbank rate."
Mushayavanhu claimed the ZiG is going to continue strengthening and it has been strengthening since its launch so accepting a rate which is not the official rate is naive.
