Zimbabwe: Zim Dollar Tumbles By 5.7 Percent

By Alois Vinga

THE Zimbabwean dollar weakened by 5.7 % on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) foreign exchange auction swiftly closing the parallel market exchange rate gap.

A trading update released at the close of trading Tuesday shows that the official exchange rate reached US$1:$105,69 up from US$1:$99,93 recorded last week signaling a 5,7% decline.

The parallel market exchange rate has been hovering around US$1:$170.

However, the central bank has maintained that working on closing the gap between the two exchange rates was not a priority and promised to work on the parallel market volatility.

Meanwhile, the priority in revamping the key economic productive sectors was sustained on the weekly main auction platform with raw materials receiving a total of US$17,7 million, machinery, and equipment US$8,1 million, consumables US$2,7 million, services US$2,3 million.

On the small to medium enterprises auction platform, raw materials received US$1,4 million, machinery and equipment US$1,9 million, consumables US$918 202, while services got US$452 103. A further 881 bids were received with US$5,5 million being allotted on the platform.

The highest bidding rate received was $120 with a low of $98,00. On the main auction platform, 623 bids were received valued at US$36,2 million.

Raw materials were allotted US$17,7 million, machinery and equipment US$8,1 million, consumables US$2,7 million, and services US$2,3 million.

A grand total of US$41,7 million was allotted on both platforms.

This article originally appeared on New Zimbabwe

Photo: Reuters