The Weekend Read: Stability Is Only the Beginning

By Tinotenda Bhunu

HARARE – EVERY quarter, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) releases a report on the state of the economy. It is filled with figures, charts, and economic terms that can easily make many people lose interest after the first few pages.

But behind all those numbers is a story that every Zimbabwean should care about.

Before I read the RBZ’s Q2 2026 Report, I already had an idea of what the headlines would say. Inflation has remained under control. The ZiG has been relatively stable. The banking sector remains sound. These are encouraging developments, especially for a country that has spent years battling runaway inflation, collapsing currencies, and economic uncertainty.

The RBZ deserves credit where it is due. Stability is not something Zimbabweans have enjoyed for a long time.

But after putting the report down, I found myself asking a different question.

What does all this mean to the ordinary Zimbabwean?

That, in my view, is the question that matters most.

For years, Zimbabweans have lived in survival mode. Every morning, people started their day by checking the exchange rate. Businesses changed prices several times a day. Salaries lost value before month-end. Saving money felt pointless because inflation would quietly eat away at it.

Today, things are different. It is not perfect, but it is certainly better.

A shop owner can buy stock with a little more confidence. Parents can budget without worrying that prices will double overnight. Businesses can make plans beyond the next few days.

That is real progress.

But progress should never stop us from asking harder questions.

If prices are more stable today, why are many families still struggling to make ends meet?

If the currency is holding its value, why do so many young people still struggle to find decent jobs?

If the economy is becoming more stable, why do so many small businesses still find it difficult to grow?

These are not questions meant to criticise the RBZ. On the contrary, the central bank has done an important job in restoring a measure of confidence after years of instability.

The problem is that we sometimes expect too much from a central bank.

Think of a football referee.

The referee makes sure the match is played according to the rules. He keeps order on the field and ensures fair play.

But he cannot score goals.

That responsibility belongs to the players.

The RBZ is much like that referee.

Its job is to keep the financial system stable. It works to control inflation, maintain confidence in the currency, and ensure that money retains its value.

But it cannot create jobs. It cannot build factories. It cannot start businesses. It cannot make people wealthier.

Those things happen when entrepreneurs invest, businesses expand, farmers produce more, and industries become more competitive.

This is where I believe Zimbabwe’s economic conversation should now move.

For too long, we have judged the economy almost entirely through the exchange rate. When the currency weakens, we panic. When it stabilises, we celebrate. Yet a stable currency was never supposed to be the destination.

It is the foundation.

Imagine a farmer who finally repairs the fence around his field after years of neglect. The fence now keeps livestock away from his crops. His harvest is safer.

But the fence itself is not the harvest. It simply creates the conditions for one.

That is exactly what monetary stability does.

It creates an environment where businesses can plan, investors can commit capital, and entrepreneurs can take risks with greater confidence.

But stability alone does not create prosperity.

This was one of the central ideas of Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises. He argued that money is simply a tool that makes trade easier. Real wealth does not come from money itself. It comes from people producing goods, solving problems, creating businesses, and serving customers.

In simple language, a country becomes richer because its people become more productive, not simply because its currency becomes more stable.

That lesson is particularly relevant for Zimbabwe.

The RBZ can preserve the value of money. It cannot manufacture prosperity.

Prosperity comes from secure property rights, consistent policies, productive businesses, innovation, and the freedom of entrepreneurs to discover opportunities in the marketplace.

This is why the next chapter of Zimbabwe’s economic story should focus less on the currency itself and more on what people are able to do because the currency is stable.

Are businesses expanding?

Are farmers investing more?

Are factories increasing production?

Are young people finding meaningful employment?

Are investors confident enough to commit their money for the long term?

Those are the questions that will determine whether today’s stability becomes tomorrow’s prosperity.

One encouraging aspect of the current environment is that policy appears more consistent than it has been in previous years. Investors do not expect perfection, but they do expect predictability. Businesses can adapt to almost any policy if they know it will not change overnight.

Consistency builds confidence.

Confidence encourages investment.

Investment creates jobs.

Jobs improve lives.

As I finished reading the RBZ’s Q2 Report, I realised that perhaps we have been asking the wrong question.

Instead of asking, “Is the currency stable?”

Perhaps we should begin asking,

“Are people’s lives improving?”

Because, at the end of the day, economic reports are not written for the sake of statistics.

They are supposed to reflect the lives of ordinary people.

The RBZ has helped lay the foundation by restoring greater monetary stability.

Now, the challenge belongs to the rest of us—to policymakers who must create an environment where businesses can thrive, to entrepreneurs willing to take risks, and to a nation that must convert stability into opportunity.

A stable currency is not the finish line. It is simply the road on which prosperity must travel.

Tinotenda Bhunu is an economist by profession. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tinotenda-bhunu-114645208?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app