Staff Writer
HARARE, The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says pensions provide financial security and dignity in retirement, encouraging long-term savings and contributing significantly to national capital formation.
Governor Dr John Mushayavanhu, at a recent media awards ceremony, said importantly, the insurance and pensions industry in Zimbabwe has been playing a critical role in mobilising domestic savings and supporting investments in infrastructure and long-term projects.
He said these initiatives enhance the overall resilience of households and businesses, which is key in achieving inclusive economic growth and sustainable development in line with Vision 2030 and National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).
“The Reserve Bank’s role is to ensure long-term price, currency and financial sector stability. Low and stable inflation ensures certainty and predictability in monetary and financial affairs and provides a conducive macroeconomic environment to support insurance and pension funds,” he said.
He added that, critically, macroeconomic stability supports value preservation of long-term savings and investments, and this can be efficiently tapped to support long-term growth and development.
“Unfortunately, past events and policies resulted in the erosion of value for pension funds and investments. People still have scars from losses incurred in prior years, and it is important that we work hard to restore macroeconomic stability, which is a prerequisite for value preservation.
“In this regard, the Reserve Bank has been making concerted efforts to ensure lasting macroeconomic stability since April 2024,” said Dr Mushayavanhu.
He noted that the central bank has reconfigured and reoriented its monetary policy to focus on its core mandate of price stability.
“As a result, we have been pursuing an appropriate monetary policy that balances stability and growth. This has resulted in low and stable monthly inflation, which declined to -0.1 per cent in March 2025, while at the same time, the exchange rate has seen greater stability,” he said.
The governor said continued macroeconomic stability is expected to improve prospects for the insurance and pensions industry, thereby enabling the sector to play a greater role in economic growth and development.
“The role of the media is to inform the investing public on the prevailing stability and the ongoing efforts to sustain this stability. The investing public had resorted to mattress banking and safe deposit boxes, which yield no returns and expose them to robberies. We need to reverse this trend now that we have achieved currency and price stability,” he said.
Dr Mushayavanu said the direct role played by the Reserve Bank in supporting the macroeconomic environment, the central bank has been collaborating with IPEC in ensuring a healthy and inclusive financial ecosystem.
He said important collaborations include the SMART Regulatory Forum, the Multidisciplinary Financial Stability Committee, the National Financial Inclusion Steering Committee, the National Risk Assessment Taskforce, the FinTech Committee and various other committees.
“These platforms enable us to coordinate supervision across financial subsectors, share critical data, jointly assess risks, and promote consistent policy messaging as well as advance inclusive development,” he said.
He noted that in today’s interconnected financial environment, such collaboration is not a luxury but a necessity.
