Zim bank lending freeze to worsen economic crisis

Zimbabwe's decision to suspend bank lending in a desperate bid to arrest the rapid devaluation of its currency will worsen the economic crisis and expose borrowers to predatory loans, the country's business chamber said on Monday.

"Surely, this is not an ideal measure to control the growth in broad money supply," the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) said in a statement.

"This legitimises a parallel banking system with usurious interest rates and no investor would be attracted to such an economy where lending can be suspended overnight."

President Emmerson Mnangagwa ordered banks to stop lending with immediate effect on Saturday, saying the unprecedented move was meant to stop speculation against the Zimbabwean dollar, which has been rapidly devalued on a thriving black market.

Before Mnangagwa's announcement, the Zimbabwean dollar was officially quoted at 165.94 against the US dollar, but had been trading at an exchange rate of between 330 and 400 to the greenback on the black market.

On Monday, the official rate moved to 275.79 Zimbabwe dollars, according to the central bank website, after the government decided to use interbank market rates instead of a rate determined during the central bank's weekly auctions. -Reuters