Zimbabwe suspends fungibility of Old Mutual, PPC and Seedco

Zimbabwe Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube today suspended the fungibility of three companies’ stocks to try and halt a rout of the nation’s currency.

The year-long measure affects Old Mutual Ltd., PPC Ltd. and Seed Co., Ncube said in a Government Gazette.

The order doesn’t have any impact on the settlement of transactions in the stocks conducted before March 13 as long as they’re effected by March 18, he said.

Old Mutual’s stock also trades in London and South Africa, PPC in South Africa and Seed Co. in Botswana.

Those dual listings and differing exchange rates can offer traders arbitrage opportunities.

Zimbabwe’s dollar has weakened about 86% since February 2019, when the government dropped a one-to-one peg of its quasi-currency to the dollar in February and later outlawed the use of foreign exchange.

The Old Mutual Implied Rate, which is almost like a currency stood at 61.6 on Friday, which meant that this was the rate investors felt the Zimbabwe dollar should trade at against the United States dollar.

The highest black market rate for the same Friday was 42:1 for electronic money and 30.6 to one for cash.

The interbank rate still stood at 18.4 to the US dollar, less than one third of the OMIR.-Bloomberg/Own

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