Zimbabweans start accessing new notes, coins

·       But will this end cash shortages?

·       RBZ keeps eagle eye on banks

·       Depositors want increase in withdrawal limit

AFTER a bit of a false start yesterday Zimbabweans have started accessing new notes and coins amid hope that the Southern African country’s cash woes will soon be a thing of the past.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) yesterday released ZWL 30 million which depositors started accessing this morning.

Some depositors in the Harare Central Business District expressed optimism about the development.

“We are very happy …what we now need is for them to increase withdrawal limits and allow us to get our money at once, it’s not much anyway,” said Gerald Moyo, a Harare-based teacher.

Meanwhile, Central Bank governor John Mangudya says they will closely monitor the movement of cash from banks to depositors to prevent the channelling of money to illegal cash dealers who have been selling notes and coins to desperate people at premiums of up to 50 percent.

Dr Mangudya added that  the money released yesterday is part of ZWL$1 billion expected to be drip-fed into the economy over the next six months.

Central bank data shows that Zimbabwe has about $19 billion in circulation, yet only 4,5 percent of this is cash.

The new cash injections will bring this ratio up to around 10 percent.