Chronicle Editor
Harare Bureau
THE Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe (CoMZ) is engaging the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) with a view to finding a solution to challenges caused by the new foreign currency regulations announced by the central bank in the Monetary Policy Statement.
Under the new foreign currency regulations, exporters are no longer required to exhaust their foreign currency earnings as was the case previously, but the surrender threshold has been reviewed upwards to 40 percent from 30.
It is against this background that some exporters, particularly in the mining sector, say they are now having shortfalls in meeting their obligations that require foreign currency.
CoMZ chief executive officer, Mr Isaac Kwesu, said miners were having to augment for the shortfalls by turning to the Foreign Currency Auction System.
However, the challenge is that some of their bids are not going through, thus, diminishing miners’ ability to sustain production.
“It’s an issue that has come up with some members saying that the 40 percent foreign currency surrender is on the up side,” said Mr Kwesu.
“Depending on an individual exporter’s cost structure, some miners are having shortfalls in terms of their foreign currency needs and have had their capacity to sustain production curtailed.
“You will be aware of the foreign currency auction system and our members are also participating in it but unfortunately not every bid on the auction is always successful.
“So, it’s against this background that we are engaging the RBZ to consider giving priority to bids from exporters and not just miners but all the exporters because I think it’s ideal that we pull all stops to make sure we sustain businesses that are bringing the forex in the first place,” he said.
RBZ Governor, Dr John Mangudya, was not available for comment at the time of going to print while the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, referred questions back to the bank.
Dr Mangudya has, however, in the past, explained the need to strike a balance between exporters’ needs to retain hard currency and the need to meet the country’s other requirements that need foreign exchange.
The RBZ boss has previously noted that there is a need to retain a chunk of the exporters’ earnings so that the Government can then meet other needs like healthcare and infrastructure development projects.
The Government has a tough call to make on the subject as social services like healthcare and infrastructure development projects such as construction of roads are key under the country’s economic blueprint — the National
Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).
Meanwhile, small-scale miners, through the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF), have called for a general council meeting of the federation to discuss pertinent issues aimed at maximising their production.
The Government has reiterated the importance of small-scale mining sector to the country’s economy as some rich mineral deposits are more amenable to small scale mining than conglomerate mining.
Online Reporter