Zimbabwe dollar sheds $1.23 against the US as auction defies black market

The Zimbabwe dollar today shed only $1.23 against the United States dollar to average $116.65 against last week’s $115.4223 as the foreign exchange auction continued to defy the widening gap between the official rate and the black market rate which is now over 200:1.

Central bank chief John Mangudya had a tiff with economist Tony Hawkins last week with the Hawkins calling for re-dollarisation while Mangudya said he would be promoting the use of local currency.

It is not clear which way the Monetary Policy Committee will decide but it met on Friday last week but its deliberations have not yet been released

What was interesting was the spread of the bids at today’s auction with the lowest offer being $107 and the highest $132.50.

A total of 1 220 bids were allotted US$37.5 million today.

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This post was last modified on February 1, 2022 4:14 pm

Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.