Rural Financial Development In Zimbabwe: Past, Present And Future Options

Abstract

Until Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, financial development was geared towards the more commercially oriented sectors. Smallholder producers requiring financial inter mediation had to travel to urban centres and carry out their transactions at these urban - based institutions. The types of financial services they could access were very limited and information on various forms of financial investments such as securities and stocks did not easily reach rural areas. Of more significance, loans to invest in various forms of productive enterprises were not available.