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Turmoil in Zimbabwe

With Zimbabwe slated to hold elections later this year political conflict has once again flared up across the country. However with Government coffers bled dry by a recent census as well as constitutional referendum (March) Financial Minister Tendai Biti says the international community will have to pay for the voting process.

When will the vote be held?

Ruling party say it wants the vote to be held before June 29 2013 when the term of parliament ends. However opposition MDC says this is not possible.

This year Zimbabwe is seeing slower growth  mainly relating to fears of a repeat of the election violence. ZANU-PF’s ongoing push for foreign companies, including banks such as Standard Chartered, to turn over majority stakes to locals has soured investor sentiment. International analysts are speculating on whether this year ahead of the election the ZANU-PF will target foreign banks to boost their coffers. 

“We will take over Standard Chartered”

Recently the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board (NIEEB) threatened a takeover of Standard Chartered Bank in order to give a majority stake to locals  (in line with the ’07  “indigenisation” law, which requires foreign companies to hand over a 51 %  stake to black Zimbabweans. Some mining concerns have agreed to make such concessions in order to ensure continued operations in Zimbabwe.

But Mr. Gideon Gono, (Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe) has dismissed the NIEEB’s threat of seizure and has denied there are plans for a government takeover of the local operations of Standard Chartered Bank. “Standard Chartered Bank clients are advised to go about their business in a … normal manner because nothing of the sort which was announced by NIEEB officials is of any legal or practical effect…”

Mr. Gono said only the central bank has authority to “ oversee the financial sector” and therefore the NIEEB could not touch Standard Chartered’s banking license. However as seen in Europe with the events in Cyprus desperate times call for desperate measures. Whatever the case once again even voicing such threats has hit the regions currencies hard.