Zim Heading For Dollarised 2019 For Sure, Cimas Medical Aid Introduces USD Packages

Tinashe Nyahasha Avatar
Cimas Medical Aid billboard

This morning we were talking about the introduction of a USD card by ZUVA for buying petrol and diesel. They of course didn’t start it: Chicken Inn introduced “discounts” for purchases in USD. What’s interesting about these discounts is that they mirror the parallel exchange rate of RTGS to USD and they are close to the original Chicken Inn prices before prices took wings in Zimbabwe.

Again, Chicken Inn didn’t start it. It was started by Mthuli Ncube and John Mangudya when they announced the separation of accounts into FCA Nostro and FCA RTGS. Of course the FCA behind RTGS is them maintaining their delusion that what we have in our bank accounts (the old ones) is still USD when the USD was long looted by our rulers.

In that vein, Mthuli didn’t really start it: it was started when the government started inventing numbers and replacing our hard earned money with the make believe electronic money. It wasn’t even the bond note that got us here. Much more was printed through the RTGS system than the bond notes.

Anyway, it’s easy to get carried away. Here’s what Cimas says:

24 December 2018

Contributions Review

The Society wishes to advise its valued customers that there are escalations on RTGS claims while USD claims costs remain static.  This development has led to members incurring huge co-payments in RTGS terms while there are no or little co-payments in USD claims. The Society has engaged some service providers who advised that the distortions are a result of the need to raise foreign currency (which is not readily available) to procure medicines and medical consumables.

In an effort to ensure equity and in response to the recently announced monetary policy, we are introducing foreign currency denominated products to complement the existing RTGS products effective the 1st of January 2019.

The USD denominated packages will bridge the current gap and avail options to accommodate our diverse membership. The initiative is also based on the need to capacitate our healthcare service providers thereby enabling them to import the healthcare delivery inputs. Claims for members who will be registered onto these products will be reimbursed through the Nostro FCA accounts. Members who are currently registered on traditional packages are allowed to migrate to the foreign currency products without waiting periods.

Please note that the Society will continue to offer all the traditional packages that are denominated in both RTGS FCAs and Nostro FCAs.

Find attached the four package options for your consideration. For further information, please contact Sales & Marketing and Customer Services teams to discuss the detailed benefits at your convenience.

Washington Madziwadondo

Managing Director – Medical Aid

Is the government being deliberate?

We are surely dollarising and I am beginning to wonder if this is not a deliberate move by the government. Instead of dollarising by decree they are leaving the market to do it by itself. Dollarisation is going to be painful no doubt.

If the government had the guts to just call it, we would experience acute and sharp pain and then it will be over. This gradual process will beat us down and weary us.

Whether or not the government is deliberately choosing to let the market correct itself (or rather correct the government overspending) we are in the thick of a dollarisation ten years after dollarising. Merry Christmas.

7 comments

  1. Worried

    Depends if salaries go to USD… That’s the problem now… Even if they zero the 10bil inrtgs accounts… How are they going to pay salaries in usd… Would be interesting to see the uptake on USD prices for example if less than 5% of sales at chicken Inn are in usd plus overall sales are down … Don’t think it will work because the turn over is far less… Dad thing is salaries have remained static and the ones who collect USD are using for expenses… Hard 2019 for sure

    1. Tinashe Nyahasha

      Yeah difficult to have an answer for that question

  2. Anonymous

    Even if the market does it for the govt , the money will still be taken again, we had bearer cheques, bond notes now nostros and RTGS

  3. Anonymous

    People need to slow down and stop being emotion all, Dollarisation is not going to happen what is needed is a balance between electonic money and foreign currency being earned by the country.Those that are pinning their businesses on consumers paying in United states dollars will eventually suffer, Zimbabwe does not print United States dollars it’s a finite resource in the Country, nor do people get paid in USD. What is needed is a carefully managed system on Foreign currency up and and until the Country is producing enough domestically as well as for exports.

    1. Anonymous

      lols ukhuluma *** wena

  4. Enison

    @Anonymous..you’ve just demonstrated that you’ve NO knowledge of economics whatsoever

  5. Munyurwaf

    Dollarising again, to invite externalisation. Why don’t we adopt the Yuan as an interim currency for now, seeing that the Euro is its uncertainties rooted in continued EU unity, and the Rand is not international…

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