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Monetary Policy Statement - January 2009
Gideon Gono, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
February 02, 2009

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1. Introduction and background

1.1 This Monetary Policy Statement which is issued in terms of Section 46 of the RBZ Act chapter 22:15 comes at a most difficult time in the short history of our country, when both the corporate and household sectors of our economy are under a crippling spell of extraordinary hardships, occasioned by a combination of severe domestic and external factors whose impact has been profoundly negative on everyone across the board.

1.2 Indeed, there is neither the need to dramatise nor exaggerate anything, and not least of all, to placate anyone to appreciate the obvious and very painful fact that life in our country has been, especially over the last twelve months, extremely difficult for the majority of people, many of whom remain at a loss as to why history has allowed things to turn out this way.

1.3 While it is of no consolation to Zimbabweans that the whole world is today confronted with extraordinary hardships calling for unorthodoxy and extraordinary interventions, it is a fact though that our attitude towards the challenges facing us will, in a large measure, determine the extent, length and severity of the pain we will experience during these difficult times.

1.4 A defeatist attitude will not do and worse still, a vindictive disposition towards the next person can only be counter-productive.

1.5 What will make a positive difference is our levelheadedness in the face of these surmountable challenges and our collective commitment to deal with the difficulties head-on, bearing in mind that the world out there, and indeed our own people here at home, are fast loosing confidence in and patience with most of us in decision making positions be it in politics, commerce, local authorities, industry or parastatals because of our failure to deliver a better life to our people.

1.6 In addition, as a Nation, we are currently vulnerable to many poisonous and divisive missiles and preoccupations, ranging from self-discouragement to self-pity; from hopelessness to self doubt; and are lurching from one pillar to another, all in an effort to hide away from taking collective responsibility for our current state of affairs.

1.7 If we are not blaming MDC-T leader Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai or Professor Arthur Mutambara for all our woes, we are finding fault with President Robert Gabriel Mugabe; if we are not finding fault in these three we are blaming the West, the East, North or South, the US, Russia or China for one terrible action or omission; and if it is not the weather to blame for our underperformance on farms or the mines, it must be the Reserve Bank or someone else to blame.

1.8 Such is the level of our mental imprisonment that we can never pin responsibility or search for solutions to our troubles from within ourselves first before pointing at others.

1.9 Even the United States of America where the current devastating global financial crisis started, is not as preoccupied with this blame game thing as ourselves here. Both Republicans and Democrats realise the commonality of their fate as Americans first and not as separate party supporters. They are getting on with the essential task of finding solutions to their problems in a united manner across the divide unlike what we are doing here. The same can be sited of other countries the world over currently in the middle of an economic meltdown.

1.10 In Zimbabwe, a common tactic in this blame game has been to single out the Central Bank and Central Bank Governor with easy-to-make claims that I am personally to blame for the self-evident and very painful economic situation afflicting just about everyone in our country today.

1.11 As Governor, I strongly feel that we have now reached a critical point in the life of our country where those who have sought refuge in playing the blame game should desist from this distractive approach. There is so much that needs to be done by each and everyone of us to waste our energies on yesterday while today remains unattended and tomorrow is being lost to the determination by others.

1.12 It is common cause that over the last five or so years, the Central Bank under my proactive watch has been at the forefront of doing two things which I intend to continue doing in this my second and last term.

1.13 First, I have spared no moment or opportunity, especially on occasions such as this, to advise the leadership of all key sections of our nation in government, business, political parties, civil society, trade unions and churches on the required medium to long term policy measures to turnaround the fortunes of our economy in pursuit of prosperity for all Zimbabweans.

1.14 Second, I have not hesitated to formulate and implement extraordinary urgent measures, most of which have become the standard approach the world over, to address the extraordinary circumstances when it has become necessary to do so. We have had to survive under very harsh and more often than not, a hostile internal and external environment without precedent anywhere in this world.

1.15 The public record shows the policy advice I have proffered in my previous monetary policy statements and whose merit, sincerity and purity of intentions, I believe, speaks for itself, has either not been seriously discussed or debated, let alone implemented whole heartedly by some of those seeking to point fingers at the Central Bank and me personally today.

1.16 Again, as the record shows, the urgent extraordinary measures we have invoked have invariably been in response to the need to fill a gap or address an emergency created either by a major policy or economic player or players in the country or by some external player or players hostile to Zimbabwe, including the unavoidable natural calamities in the mould of droughts, floods or disease outbreaks.

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