The Sunday Mail
Lincoln Towindo
The United States has set in motion a plan to “collapse the Zimbabwean economy overnight” by restricting US dollar imports into the country, The Sunday Mail has gathered.Part of this plot involves violent street protests against the scheduled introduction of bond notes aimed at easing US dollar cash shortages that began in April 2016.
US Zimbabwe Embassy spokesperson Ms Karen Kelly could not be reached for comment yesterday. But Finance and Economic Development Ministry and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe officials told The Sunday Mail they had received information that the protests were tailored to force the RBZ to abandon bond notes.
And once the bond notes are shelved, the sources said, Washington would impose restrictions on greenbacks finding their way into Zimbabwe.
In 2015, the Bank of America stopped supplying currency to Angola and South Africa, arguing lax regulations there provided fertile ground for money laundering.
This shook Angola’s economy, which however quickly absorbed the shock with its currency, the kwanza.
An expert yesterday said the RBZ should preempt the plot by immediately increasing US dollar imports as well as beefing up stocks of other legal tender in the basket of currencies in use.
“The potential for hostile action has always been imminent since adoption of the US dollar in the basket of currencies and the responsible authorities should always have counter-measures in place instead of waiting to react.
“We should be increasing (US dollar) imports right now and also shoring up the availablity of other currencies that are legal tender in Zimbabwe,” he said.
A source said, “All these demonstrations calling on authorities to abandon the bond note idea are part of a calculated plot to collapse the economy overnight.
They envisage a situation where Zimbabwe will just wake up one morning and the US would have banned importation of US dollars
