Zimbabwe’s new currency, the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG,) continued to firm against the United States dollar as it has done every trading day since it started trading on 8 April.
It kicked off at 13.5616 to the United States dollar and has firmed to 13.3129 today.
However, prices at one of the leading supermarkets, which are pegged in ZiG, do not reflect this picture.
A 5kg packet of one of the cheapest brands of rice is selling for ZiG112, for example, which translates to US$8.41 yet this rice sells for between US$5 and US$6 on the open market.
This means that the supermarket is probably using the blackmarket rate of US$1:18.
Zimpricecheck, which monitors the black market puts the blackmarket rate at 1:17.
With a sale rate of 13.6457 as of today it means the supermarket is making more than ZiG 4 for every dollar.
Airtime vendors are, however, giving you airtime for ZiG 10 for every dollar which means they are already making a profit of just over ZiG 3 for each dollar.
Zimbabwe has not yet introduced ZiG notes which it says will be on the market at the end of this month.
Central bank governor John Mushayavanhu who has bet his life on the new currency will have to put his foot down to bring sanity in the market.
“There is a need for us to be positive about ZiG because there is no gain in attacking the ZiG, to anyone,” he has repeatedly said.
“We need to start believing in it, it won’t benefit you soiling the new currency, and it won’t benefit the next generation either,” he said.
Those politically connected, and not the illegal money changers on the streets as most of them are mere runners, are his worst enemies.
How the ZiG has fared so far:
8 April- 13.5616
9 April- 13.5348
10 April-13.5012
11 April- 13.4542
12 April- 13.4178
15 April- 13.4027
16 April- 13.3620
17 April- 13.3457
19 April- 13.3129
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