Factories may be closing down, dozens of workers losing jobs and consumers’ buying power at its lowest but the Reserve Bank says the amount of money that individuals and companies are banking has gone up by 7,5 percent to $4,3 billion in the nine months to September from $4 billion in January this year due to what the central bank says is a rising confidence in the sector.
According to The Source which quoted the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s monthly economic review for September released last Friday, bank deposits were mainly from the services sector that contributed $1,003 billion followed by financial organisations and individuals who deposited $831 million and $676 million respectively.
“The total value of mobile and internet based transactions increased from $524,8 million in August 2015, to $543,2 million in September 2015. The value of cheque transactions rose from $11,4 million in August 2015 to $12,9 million in September 2015,” said the RBZ.
The report added that annual growth in total banking sector credit to the domestic economy increased to 19 percent in September compared to 18,8 percent in August.
Confidence in the banking sector plummeted in 2003 to 2004 after the collapse of several banking institutions that left hundreds of bank customers prejudiced of thousands of dollars.
For analysis, we turned to Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president, Busisa Moyo, and Independent economic analyst, Rejoice Ngwenya, who kicks off the discussion by questioning the central bank’s figures.
"Well, I'm not sure if there's a false confidence he (RBZ governor) has been given by the fact that people are not using South African rands," said Ngwenya.
