Mangudya likens economy to ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’

via Mangudya likens economy to ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ | The Herald 14 November 2014

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mangudya on Thursday likened the situation in the Zimbabwean economy as similar to the biblical city of Sodom and Gomorrah which God destroyed over high levels of sin.

Mangudya, who was speaking at a seminar on the financial sector that the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) organised, said high levels of indiscipline were dragging the economy down.

He said it was imperative for the nation starting from the Government, business to individuals to adapt to the “new normal” of living in a dollarised environment and stop looking back to the past.

“In an undisciplined economy, people are very difficult to govern,” Dr Mangudya told business leaders.

“We are like Sodom and Gomorrah.”

Dr Mangudya decried ills such as corruption, smuggling, failure by the Government, companies and individuals to honour their debts, which he said were almost considered normal in the economy.

“We are now in a new normal, we are not going back to the pre-dollarisation era,” he said.

Dr Mangudya said, referring to the era before 2009 when Zimbabwe was still using its own currency before it adopted a basket of multi-currencies as part of measures to address hyperinflation.

“We need strategies to move forward, this idea of living in the past is what is killing us,” he said.

Dr Mangudya, who was appointed to his post early this year, said he had accepted his “new normal” that he could not print money since the country was using the greenback

He bemoaned high levels of negativity in the country.

“Let us be positive, we are always shooting ourselves in the foot. Criticism is healthy but not insults,” he said.

The RBZ Governor urged Zimbabweans to stop expecting deliverance from the economic challenges from central Government without playing their part.

“The Government is you and the economy is us,” he said, adding individuals should stop pointing fingers at the Government for failing to pay its debts, yet on a personal level they were also not honouring their obligations.

“It is now a culture. It is now cascading from Government right to individuals,” he said.

“People are not even paying their water and electricity bills.”

Dr Mangudya said discipline was a crucial ingredient for efforts to revive the economy to work.

Self-control was critical particularly in addressing high levels of imports which were drowning the economy, he said.

Zimbabwe’s trade deficit is currently hovering around $3 billion, mostly due to non-productive imports flooding the country.

Dr Mangudya urged the Government to address some contradictions in the economy, which were stalling recovery efforts including not issuing licences to import commodities produced in abundance locally.

“We give people farms to produce but also give others licences to import the same things that are being produced here. We are destroying the farmer who has been given a farm as they will go out of business,” he said. -New Ziana.