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Foreign currency account (FCA) deposits, on a broad money basis, grew by 68,85 percent in the year to September 2021, latest statistics from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) show.
The foreign currency deposits increased from $92,19 billion (in Zimbabwe dollar or local currency terms) in September last year to $151,06 billion in September this year.
FCA balances grew from US$1,13 billion to US$1,72 billion over the 12 months to September 2021, the central bank indicated in the update to the market released this month, as confidence in the country’s economy and banks keeps bulking.
Notably, the growth in FCA deposits was largely driven by revaluation changes, owing to the movement of the exchange rate from $83,40 per US$1 in September 2020 to $92,09 per US$1 in September 2021.
In line with the annual growth, FCA deposits were up month-on-month in the period under review, after they rose from $133,77 billion in August to $151,06 billion in September.
This comes after Zimbabwe’s export receipts for the first nine months of 2021 jumped 38 percent to US$6,1 billion from US$4,43 billion realised in the same period in 2020.
Improvements were realised in international remittances which grew by over 53 percent and export earnings which grew by 36 percent buoyed by firming global commodity prices.
The growth is expected to take Zimbabwe’s official foreign currency earnings to a record figure of about US$8 billion in 2021 from US$6,29 billion realised in 2020.
Meanwhile, broad money increased from $329,19 billion recorded in August 2021 to $364,60 billion in September 2021.
National Payment Systems (NPS) comprising RTGS system, cash, card-based transactions and mobile and internet based transactions grew by a marginal 0,94 percent in September to $779,71 billion from $673,27 billion a month earlier.
According to the RBZ monthly review, the volume of NPS transactions increased from 122,45 million in August to 123,32 million during the month under review.
The RTGS system payments rose by 4,71 percent from $397,54 billion in August 2021 to $477,93 billion while volumes surged marginally by 1,64 percent to close the month of September at 1,19 million.
In September, card based transactions were down by 0,87 percent from $56,71 billion to $56,44 billion, but cash based transactions increased by 0,3 percent to $14,86 billion.
Mobile and internet-based transactions amounted to $245,33 billion during the month of September 2021, a 18,13 percent increase from $219,02 billion registered in August 2021.
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