Harare - Zimbabwe's central bank on Thursday threatened to close a number of banks that it accuses of engaging in fraudulent activity and driving the country's economic meltdown.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono alleged several banks and the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) were involved in "fraudulent" activities that were pushing up the inflation rate.

Zimbabwe's official inflation rate is 231 million per cent, the highest in the world.

The strong-performing ZSE has become one of the only viable investment options.

"The ZSE has become the epicentre of economic destruction," Gono charged. "Quiet clearly, the fraudulent collaboration between some banks, stockbrokers and the ZSE have become the most inflationary vehicles."

Gono accused the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe specifically of issuing customers with cheques for values exceeding the bank's assets.

The cheques are then used by customers to speculate on the stock exchange, he said.

"Any bank where cheques are fraudulently drawn with effect from November 20, 2008 will automatically lose its trading licence and the chief executive officer charged with criminality," Gono warned.

Since he became RBZ governor, Gono, whose credibility has been undermined by his penchant for printing money at the drop of a hat to fund government patronage, has closed more than six banks for various reasons.

Stanbic Bank, part of South Africa's Standard Bank, Britain's Barclays, Zimbabwe's ZB Bank and the African Banking Corporation are the banking groups operating in beleaguered Zimbabwe.

Stanbic was the only bank cleared by Gono of "fraudulent" activities. dpa