By Alois Vinga

REVELATIONS by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) this month (February) that half of the country's $34.5 billion worth of total bank balances is in the hands of only 200 companies is a tip of an iceberg hinting on serious unequal distribution of wealth.

The horror script was revealed by RBZ governor, John Mangudya while presenting a Monetary Policy Statement on February 17 2020. “The level of liquidity or money supply in the economy stood at $34.5 billion as at December 31 2019 and out of the total, 50 percent is concentrated on only 200 entities with the highest out of the 200 has $1.5 billion dollars while the least has $2 million,” he said. The RBZ governor said out of the total $34.5 billion is composed of $22 billion being 64 percent in local currency and $12.5 billion equivalent to $785 million or 36 percent in foreign currency. Just less than a month ago, government decided to increase civil servants' wages by a margin ranging from 133 percent to 172 percent depending on salary grade. Under the new wage structures, the least paid government worker who used to earn $1 045 will be taking home $2 500 per month, while those earning $1 885 will pocket $4 631. The new salaries which are set to be received end of February 2020 have already been wiped out by inflation prompted by exchange rates devaluation which stood at around ZWL$30 against US$1 at the time of publishing. Within this salary matrix civil servants, by the country's standards can be deemed the highest paid considering most sectors are awarding salaries lower than ZWL$2 000. The sad part is that these richest 200 firms have had influence on the movement of exchange rates, price increases and common economic trends further pushing the country's