Zimbabwe’s central bank – the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has come out to fire-fight social media claims that the bank will devalue the Zimbabwe dollar through a “liberalization” of the interbank market.

The country re-introducted its local currency in June last year, a decade after it dollarised. But the currency has devalued to trade around 18 to the United States dollar on the official interbank market.

The RBZ has been accused of holding down the interbank rate, with the parallel market rate trading at around 27 to the dollar.

Earlier today, claims on social media emerged that the central babk was set to liberalize the interbank rate.

But RBZ governor Dr John Mangudya has refuted those claims.

“The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe notes misleading messages being circulated on social media regarding the operations of the interbank market.

“We advise that no such changes planned on the operations of the interbank market. The interbank rate is determined by supply and demand on the market, and there is no plan to change policy,” he said.

“In its last deliberations on January 17, 2020, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) noted with satisfaction that as at 31st December 2019, an aggregate amount of US$1.5 billion had been traded on the interbank market.

“The MPC agreed that the Bank would deploy appropriate foreign exchange resources to intervene on the market, as may be required, as part of broader and ongoing strategies to enhance the efficiency of the interbank market.

“We therefore urge the public to ignore any speculation and rumours to the contrary. All monetary policy developments are communicated through official channels.”