Zimbabwe dollar falls by 63 cents as forex auction accepts record 1 433 bids

The Zimbabwe dollar today fell by 63 cents, one of the biggest drops of late, as the Zimbabwe foreign currency auction allotted US$38.8 million to a record 1 433 bids.

The dollar averaged $86.9267 down from $86.3010 last week with the lowest bid rate at $85 and the highest at $97.20.

The 1023 bids in the small and medium enterprises auction were allotted US$9.8 million when they had applied for US$12.1 million while large companies were allotted US$29 million instead of US$34.9 million.

The auction has stabilised the country’s economy though there are complaints that some of the businesses getting money from the market are abusing the facility by changing that money on the black market where the UIS dollar is fetching up to $150 to the greenback instead of buying products they would have applied the forex for.

There have also been complaints that companies getting foreign currency from the forex auction are pegging prices using the black market rate instead of the auction rate.

The central bank has promised to crack down on the forex abusers but has brought only a few to book prompting speculation that the abusers are senior people in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s party or government.

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