Business Reporter

Zimbabwe’s money supply growth rate was up to 12,5 percent at the end of March, driven by increase across all deposit classes, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has said. The annual broad money supply growth rate rose from 9,9 percent in February, the central bank said in its monthly report for March. On a monthly basis, broad money supply rose by 3,1 percent to $4, 91 billion in March 2016.The annual growth in broad money was largely on account of increases in savings, 22,6 percent; demand, 21,3 percent; and long term deposits, 18,3 percent. Short term deposits, however, decreased by 24,1 percent during the period under review.

The distribution of deposit classes to total deposits was as follows: demand, 52,4 percent; long term, 21,4 percent; short term, 12,5 percent; and savings deposits, 13,8 percent

The central bank said annual growth in total banking sector credit stood at 23,5 percent in March 2016, down from 26,2 percent in February 2016. Month-on-month, banking sector credit increased to $5,54 billion in March from $5,5 billion in February 2016.

On an annual basis growth in credit to the private sector was -2,4 percent in March 2016, down from 1,8 percent in February. Similarly, monthly credit to the private sector decreased to $3,66 billion in March 2016, from $3,69 billion in February 2016.

In terms of proportions, bank credit to the private sector was distributed as follows: loans and advances, 85,3 percent; mortgages, 9,2 percent; other investments, 4,2 percent; bills discounted, 1 percent and bankers’ acceptances, 0,3 percent, said RBZ.

During the period under review, private sector credit was distributed as follows: agriculture (21,4 percent); households (21,3 percent); manufacturing (16,2 percent); services (14,6 percent); mining (5,7 percent); financial organisations and investments (2,8 percent); transport and communications (3,1 percent) and construction (1,4 percent).

The value of transactions processed through the RTGS system rose from $3,45 billion in February to $3,46 billion in March 2016. During the same period, the volume of RTGS transactions increased by 2.7 percent, from 148 416 to 152 465.

Mobile and internet based transactions rose to $673,1 million in March 2016, from $557,19 million in February 2016. Card based transactions declined to $430,9 million in March, from $450.9 million recorded in February 2016. The value of cheque transactions decreased from $11,9 million in February 2016, to $11,3 million in March 2016.

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