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measures introduced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe on Wednesday must be given a chance as they have the potential to address challenges that the country has been facing on the financial services sector and production fronts.

These challenges include cash shortages, liquidity challenges, illicit financial flows and a general phobia for technology in paying for goods and services.

To deal with these challenges, the RBZ will introduce bond notes through a 5 percent export incentive, set daily withdrawal limits and for money that can be taken out of the country.

The central bank is also promoting the use of plastic money, urging those offering goods and services to set up Point Of Sale machines.

Announcing the measures on Wednesday, RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya stressed that the introduction of the bond notes was by no means a clandestine way of reintroducing the Zimbabwe dollar.

He said the move sought to plug loopholes that were being used to moving money outside the country. The greenback was sought after by people in the region whose currencies depreciated last year.

Because of the strength of the USD, citizens of other countries in the region have been flocking here to mop up the currency, leaving us struggling for cash. Now we have just plugged the hole.

Last year alone, about $2 billion was illegally shipped out of the country. Of that, individuals externalised $684 million as donations, investments and account transfers while firms externalised $1,2 billion in the form of export sales proceeds and highly inflated management fees, technical fees, professional fees.

In simple terms, this means that half of Zimbabwe’s annual budget of $4 billion was externalised. Now this is not a small amount. Neither is this a simple matter. It is in this context that the monetary authorities have introduced these measures.

The key to a favourable balance of payments and improvement in the country’s export earnings is production. Economic transformation will only come when firms competitively produce goods and earn funds for the country. In this light, the RBZ arranged a $200 million Afreximbank facility which will provide a 5 percent incentive for exporters.

What this means is that exporters will get 5 percent of their proceeds which should stimulate production. This is a much better return than what is obtaining in developed countries.

The measures are noble inasmuch as they at least ensure that the incentive is paid in bond notes which cannot be externalised, hence cash shortages should not be a major issue once the notes are introduced.

Again, promoting the use of point of sale machines eases demand for hard cash. Sometimes we are our worst enemies.

You find someone queuing to withdraw cash to buy groceries in a leading retail shop with functional point of sale machines.

We must change our behaviour as a nation. This technological phobia will not take us anywhere. We need to move with the times, carry less cash and do transactions online.

Service providers, schools and others must join the bandwagon. Gone are the days when we thought having truckloads of cash signified wealth. The world has moved. Let’s promote the use of plastic money. Mobile money is also another way to discourage the use of hard cash. For these measures to work, we need to support them as Zimbabweans.

Retailers, schools, service stations and even churches should have point of sale machines. These sectors must support the central bank initiatives as they are also beneficial to them.

We are aware that some people have memories of the hyper-inflationary environment where the Zimdollar lost value as people queued to pay for goods and services.

That era is long gone behind us. The fundamentals are totally different now.

The bond notes to be introduced by the central bank are backed by an international facility and therefore have a strong foundation.

There will not be issues with the bond notes losing value as they will be at par with the USD during their lifespan.