NMB suffers ZWG 348 mln loss on ZWL conversion to new currency

By Alois Vinga

FINANCIAL services group, NMBZ Holdings Limited says it suffered a ZWG348 million loss early this year when it converted the ZW$ into the new currency.

The ZWG was incepted on April 5 2024 as the country’s first ever Structured Currency backed by a host of mineral reserves and a pool of foreign currency which served as shock absorbers.

But presenting the group’s performance for the half-year period ended June 30 2024, NMBZ board chairperson, Pearson Gowero said the conversion from the ZWL to the new currencyZWG left the institution counting its losses.

He said to comply with the International Financial Reporting Standards, specifically IAS 29 “Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies” and IAS 21 “The Effects of Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates”, the Group had to restate prior year comparatives to 05 April 2024 using the inflation index based on the Total Consumption Poverty Line (TCPL) statistics as detailed in the accounting policies section.

“The Group recognized monetary losses as a result of this process which amounted to ZWG 348 million. These monetary losses arose as a result of the restatement of opening ZWL balances as per IAS 29 guidelines before subsequent conversion to ZWG as further explained in note 6,” said Gowero.

NMBZ said as of June 2024, the new ZWG currency showed signs of stability with the economy gravitating from the hyper-inflationary state.