President Emmerson Mnangagwa has hinted that he and his Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube are probably the cleverest duo in the country, even cleverer than economic factors hitting the country and also cleverer than the judiciary.
Very jovial Mnangagwa said this on Saturday evening while briefing Zanu-PF supporters from North America on political and economic developments back home during an interactive meeting in New York ahead of the 74th United Nations General Assembly.
Mnangagwa claimed that his government through Mthuli Ncube last Friday outsmarted some individuals and entities that were behind the sharp rise in foreign exchange rates, a development that saw the dollar exchange rate hit ZWL$25 for a single US Dollar.
He said the Zimbabwean dollar, which was introduced as a mono-currency in June this year, performed well in its initial stages only to face wanton assault by some elements in the economy which saw the exchange rates inexplicably rising, thereby causing a price spiral in goods and services.
Although President Mnangagwa did not go into detail on the actual measures, there were reports of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) freezing the accounts of four prominent companies run by persons very close to him.
There were also rumours that the RBZ Financial Intelligence Unit had cracked the whip on bureaux de change thought to be fuelling the runaway exchange rate.
“On the monetary side, yes, we have introduced one currency,” said President Mnangagwa. “For the first six weeks it remained stable, but then our people are intelligent. We have people who found ways to fight that (stability of the currency) and undermine it, but yesterday (Friday) we also became smarter than them and so we took some action.
“We have now arrested the galloping rate which was galloping from about eight, within few days it had gone up 10, and 20, by the time we left it had gone down and I think today it is about 14.”
The meeting was attended by Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube, RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya and Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo.