Zimbabwean central bank issues savings bond to boost savings

HARARE, March 2 (Xinhua) -- The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) on Friday announced the issuance of a 7 percent per annum savings bond to provide investors with a platform to save and invest in high yielding instruments.

A notice from the central bank said the savings bond would be open to individuals, companies, pension and provident funds, life mutuals, financial institutions and other interested institutions in the country.

Applications must be for a minimum 100 U.S. dollars payable through transfers or cash.

Foreigners with funds awaiting remittance could also subscribe for the savings bond, the central bank said.

Special features of the bond include rolling maturities of one year, two years, three years and five years, simple interest rate of 7 percent per annum calculated on a 365 day basis, tax free interest, acceptable as collateral and liquid asset status.

Zimbabweans are slowly rebuilding a savings culture following the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar whose use was stopped in April 2009, resulting in many bank clients losing out on their deposits and savings. Enditem