Parallel Market Rates Plummet In Zimbabwe

October 12, 2018
Zimbabwean Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has introduced a raft of measures meant to shore up the countrys dwindling financial resources Photo Xinhua | Report Focus News
Zimbabwean Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has introduced a raft of measures meant to shore up the country’s dwindling financial resources. Photo: Xinhua

Following the pronouncements by Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube that the Zimbabwean Government had secured a loan facility from Afreximbank to guarantee the 1 is to 1 convertibility value of Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) balances into the United States dollar and the availability of the greenback for Nostro foreign currency accounts parallel market rates have plunged.

US$100 which had been exchanged to rates as high as $500 on the illegal market have plunged to between $100 to $150 and expectations are that it will continue.

The plunge has been greeted with mixed feelings among the Zimbabwean community with most welcoming the plunge whilst illegal dealers were in panic.

It had gone out of bound, we anticipate that prices of basic commodities will also fall because it had taken a toll on citizens said one citizen

The plummet has seen mostly dealers citing losses after disposing the surrogate currency, the bond notes at a high rate.

This is a huge loss to us we bought the US dollar at a higher rate and the value against the bond, we are now trying other means so that we remain afloat says Michael Nyathi a dealer

The rates had gone ballistic prompting citizens to go into panic buying thereby causing artificial shortages of basic commodities.

Cooking oil which costs $3, 50 had been pegged at $15 whilst other products triplicated, Fuel has also been in short supply causing an increase in public transport.

Zimbabwe adopted the multicurrency regime in 2009 as a measure to curb the runaway inflation which had reached alarming levels of 231 million percent, fears a reminiscent of the 2008 had grown among the citizens.