Zim central bank chief likely to keep his job – reports

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa is reportedly set to renew Central Bank Governor John Mangudya's contract for a second stint at the job. Reports indicated that the president was "still keen on his services". 

According to the state-owned Herald newspaper, presidential spokesperson George Charamba said the president was clear on Mangudya's tenure and his performance and was "about to renew his contract for a second tenure".

Charamba's remarks came amid speculation on social media that the embattled Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor was going to lose his job.

The social media rumours claimed that Mangudya was going to be replaced by a former World Bank executive Andrew Ndaamunhu Bvumbe who recently resigned from the World Bank.

Mangudya was appointed to the central bank post by former president Robert Mugabe in 2014, replacing then central bank chief Gideon Gono.

According to New Zimbabwe.com, Mangudya’s survival at the central bank came as a surprise, as Mnangagwa had in recent months moved to introduce new blood at the finance ministry.

Mnangagwa replaced the country’s finance minister Patrick Chinamasa as well as the ministry’s permanent secretary in what was believed to a new start for the key ministry, said the report.

Mangudya was viewed as too tainted by Mugabe’s ruinous policies that saw the central bank as a source of income for connected individuals.

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