Zim$ slide against US$

Michael Makuza, Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe dollar slid to $478 against the United States dollar at the weekly foreign currency auction on Wednesday from $458 announced last week.

A total of US$21.4 million was allotted this week with most funds being channelled towards procurement of raw materials followed by machinery and equipment.

The main action allotted US$9 million for the procurement of raw materials while the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) auction allotted US$1,2 million for the same purpose.

The SMEs auction allotted US$1,3 million and the main auction allotted US$3,9 million respectively towards the procurement of machinery and equipment.

At this week’s auction, 565 bids were received on the SMEs platform, with 545 accepted and 20 disqualified.  The total number of bids allotted was 443.

On the main one, a total of 176 bids were received while 170 were accepted and six were disqualified.

The total number of bids allotted was 151.

Both auctions allotted US$640 000 towards the procurement of pharmaceuticals and chemicals.

Government introduced the forex trading system in June 2020 as part of measures to stabilise the exchange rate and improve businesses’ access to forex.