Mayhem as Zimbabwe Deactivates Local Nostro Accounts
If you have a US$1 Million in your Nostro account, it is only a million in name, not in deed because you can’t withdraw it in US Dollar terms or put it onto your card
Mayhem as Zimbabwe deactivates local Nostro accounts’ ability to withdraw cash in US Dollar or loading US Dollars onto international credit cards.
Nostro comes from the Latin word for “ours,” as in “our money that is on deposit at your bank.”
Nostro accounts are used in Zimbabwe to hold US Dollars or generally foreign exchange. Government was paying its workers a US Dollar component into Nostro accounts.
It means whatever is in your Nostro account is not really US Dollar anymore because you can’t use it abroad as US Dollars, and you can’t withdraw it as US Dollar cash.
If you have a million dollars in your Nostro account, it is only a million in name, not in deed because you can’t withdraw it in US Dollar terms or put it onto your card.
In other words Zimbabweans have been played for the 3rd time. Two important issues to note why this is being done.
To stop civil servants from withdrawing cash, in other words US Dollars from Government of Zimbabwe were not really US Dollars, and banks are ring fencing real US Dollars.
The second thing is the separation of local Nostro and real US Dollars.
You can only withdraw US Dollars or put them on your credit card if you actually deposit US Dollar cash or are receiving an international Telegraphic Transfer TT.
