Official exchange, parallel market rate margin widens

Sikhulekelani Moyo, [email protected]

THE official exchange rate at the forex auction system moved to US$1: $1 404 yesterday from US$1: $1 212 last week.

There is, however, a huge margin between the official exchange rate and the parallel market rate, which is hovering around US$1:$2 800 and above, amid calls to fine tune the auction system to narrow the difference.

In its latest weekly update, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) said a total of US$14,4 million was allotted to all bids compared to US$16,3 million last week.

The main auction was allotted US$13,2 million, while small and medium enterprises (SMEs) got US$1,3 million.

Since the establishment of the platform in June 2020, the bulk of the foreign currency has been allotted towards the procurement of raw materials, machinery, and equipment.

This week a total of US$7,4 million was allotted towards procurement of raw materials by both the main auction and the SMEs auctions.

Also, US$2,3 million was allotted towards machinery and equipment. The remainder of the funding has been allotted towards sourcing consumables like tyres, electricals as well as facilitating services such as loans, education, dividends and disinvestments.

The main auction received 490 bids and accepted 458 valued at US$26,8 million and 569 were accepted at the SME auction value of US$3,6 million.

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