Zimbabwean central bank cuts rates and attempts currency controls

Zimbabwe’s central bank drastically cut its policy rate and issued new foreign exchange restrictions in its latest attempt to deal with the country’s economic crisis.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe lowered its “bank policy rate” by 10 percentage points, from 25% to 15%, it announced on April 29, with effect from May 1. In an unscheduled meeting in March, the RBZ cut the rate, also known as the overnight lending rate, by 10 percentage points to 25%. That followed a startling 35 percentage point