Zimbabwe to fine those breaching official exchange rate US$15 000 or more

Zimbabwe has ordered providers of goods and services to use the official exchange rate or face a fine of ZiG200 000 which translates to about $15 000. 

If, however, the value of the foreign currency charged for the goods and services is higher than ZiG200 000, they have to pay the higher amount.

Zimbabwe is battling to get the public to accept its new currency, the Zimbabwe Gold or ZiG, which it introduced last month. 

The exchange rate is determined by the country’s banks but there is already a flourishing black market for the currency ranging from 14:1 to 20:1 according to Zimpricecheck which monitors trends on the official and black markets.

The ZiG appreciated against the greenback for the first two weeks reaching a high of 13.2517 on 24 April before plunging to its lowest rate so far of 13.6757 on 6 May.

It was pegged at 13.5187 today.

Central bank governor John Mushayavanhu says there will be a scramble for the ZiG next month when companies pay their quarterly taxes.

This is being, however, taken with a lot of scepticism as Zimbabweans have gone through volatile currencies since the turn of the century.

Below are the new regulations:

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