Why are Zimbabweans with free funds looking for Zimdollars when they need US dollars to import, Minister asks?

HON. MPARIWA: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir.  Let me begin by thanking the Minister for bringing the statement which actually answers some of the questions that were raised yesterday pertaining to Statutory Instrument 127, but perhaps really to get a clarification from the Minister.  What are the monitoring mechanisms that the Ministry has put in place in terms of continuing to safeguard scrupulous abuse of consumers by those that actually control the market?  I thank you.

HON. WATSON:  Thank you Hon. Speaker for giving me this opportunity. Could the Minister agree that exporters are given at the auction, 40% of what they are bringing into the country?  Does the 1.8 billion that is going through the forex auctions only represent 40%, so the export is so minimal in comparison to our import duty?

HON. MAVETERA: Thank you very much Hon. Speaker Sir. My point of clarity is – what barometer are you going to be using to make sure who really is supposed to be benefiting from the forex since you said you are going to be making sure that at least you choose those that have great need?  How are you going to see the need?  How are you going to be determining who is supposed to be getting what and what capacity they have for them to be getting this foreign currency?

HON. GONESE: Thank you very much Mr. Speaker Sir.  I want to thank the Hon. Minister for the Ministerial Statement. My point of clarification relates to businesses and enterprises that are unable to access foreign currency through the auction.  There are a lot of business enterprises who have had to resort to other means to access foreign currency.  My question to the Hon. Minister is; what are those businesses supposed to do because if they sell the goods at the auction rate when they have obtained the foreign currency at a premium, they actually run at a loss? Is this not going to result in a loss, whether people are not going to sell things under a culture to avoid a situation where they run out of business because they have not been able to access the foreign currency at the auction?

Can the Hon. Minister also clarify to us the percentage or roughly the transactions which are being conducted outside the money which is disbursed on a weekly basis on the auction platform?  I thank you.

HON. BRIG. GEN. (RTD) MAYIHLOME: Thank you very much Mr. Speaker Sir.  My point of clarification to the Hon. Minister of Finance and Economic Development relates to the confidence in the banking sector.  You have the exporters who put money under the pillow instead of taking it to the bank because banks are actually charging for deposits instead of giving interest. There is no motivation or incentives for people to really use the banking sector for foreign currency.  Even those who get remittances from relatives have the habit of using the informal system and not taking that money through the bank and there is a lot of money that is circulating outside the formal banking system.  What measure is the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development taking to ensure that people are encouraged to transact through the banks even payments done through letters of credit?

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