After less than two years in his role in the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s (RBZ) Monetary Policy Committee, Eddie Cross has stepped away from his post. In a report by Bulawayo24 the reasons for his departure were fatigue and frustration.
Eddie Cross stepping away comes at a critical and interesting time for the RBZ. The RBZ has been trying to battle runaway inflation as well as enacting a number of measures to control the financial sector. The more famous of it’s many most recent directives was wallet-to-wallet interoperability or Zimswitch assuming the role as the national switch, that was ushered in last year.
In the same report by Bulawayo24, banking sector sources say there had been attempts by the Ministry of Finance to censor some of what he says. There might be some truth to this because earlier this year Eddie Cross said the following:
“The only new note which is due to come in shortly is the $50 note and I’m not certain when that is going to be available but it is in the process of preparation. There are already plans to introduce some higher denomination notes this year. Some time ago we made a decision in the MPC to introduce new $200, $100 and $50 dollar notes. I understand that this is being dealt with by the Governor working with the President because the President has to approve the designs and everything else. But I understand that the $50 note will be available early in the New Year.”
Eddie Cross via Sunday News
A short while later the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe came out and roundly dismissed the introduction of the ZWL$100 and ZWL$200. It did however confirm the introduction of the ZWL$50 in a statement and then in the Monetary Policy Statement that was released yesterday.
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