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Zimbabwe central bank governor says statutory reserves are down
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Zimbabwe’s statutory reserve ratios will come down a further 2.5 percentage points according to central bank governor, Gideon Gono, but he dropped no hints as to his intentions on interest rates at a meeting with the country’s bankers.
This is the second time that statutory ratios have been adjusted since July 3, when they were reduced to 47.5 percent from 50 percent.
The RBZ had reduced the ratios from 60 percent to 50 percent for commercial and merchant banks and from 45 percent to 40 percent for discount houses on June 19, in response to pleas by several top banks that they were under severe strain. |
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The central bank's latest move on statutory reserves, announced at the meeting with bankers, has sparked debate on what message governor Gideon Gono could be sending to the market ahead of his monetary policy statement. The market has been split on how Gono could treat rates in his next statement, with the withdrawal and quick reintroduction of 91-day Treasury Bills having confused the markets.
At his last meeting with bankers in April, a hawkish Gono said he would "continue to maintain a tight monetary policy stance, characterised by maintenance of positive real interest rates and short money market positions."
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