By Wisdom Mumera.
Harare, Zimbabwe. (News of The South) -Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti’s accusations that government has been churning out an excessive amount of Treasury bills is disturbing news for a country under economic stress.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader accused the government of worsening the liquidity crisis in the country which has seen recently banks struggling to allocate cash for automated teller machines (ATM) with people being advised to withdraw from banking halls.
“The government has started the crime of printing money through the issuance of Treasury Bills that are now clogging the market”.
“This government has been criminally issuing Treasury bills with total domestic debt now standing at $6billion”.
“The continued reliance on toxic Treasury bills is a major factor contributing to the current liquidity crisis”, he said, speaking to assembled journalists at his offices in Harare. Treasury bills are promissory notes issued by a national government as a primary instrument for regulating money supply and raising funds via open market operations.
Biti however stated that with the use of the foreign US dollar the government could not print money but was now printing an excessive number of Treasury bills as a way of raising money for various activities that are not economically fundamental.
“Zimbabwe is burning and we are in trouble. Mugabe and his corrupt cronies lack the competence and the commitment to provide solutions to our national challenges which they in any case are guilty of creating”, he said.
The government has been struggling to raise finances for a workforce that has been accused of being too large whilst economic growth is still suffering with companies shutting down.
The Indigenisation drive has blurred the investment landscape with confusion ensuing as various discordant messages continue coming out on the specific permutations governing the Act.
This has resulted in the President this week addressing the issue through a statement on the banking sector.
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