Harare, (New Ziana)-The Zimbabwe dollar depreciated 2.6 percent against the greenback to close at $82.56 at the weekly foreign currency auction, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has said.

The central bank was on Thursday forced to combine the main auction, normally held on Tuesday’s, and the one for small to medium enterprises due to disruption caused by the Heroes and Defence Forces holidays this week.

The local unit, which last week traded at $80.46 slid against the US dollar for the ninth time since it was floated in late June.

While still going up, the official rate remains still trails the parallel market which is trading at around $100 but market watchers have lauded the auction system for not only availing price stability in the market but for also taming the black market, which has ordinarily traded at more than double the official rate.

Results from the weekly auction show that all accepted bids, which amounted to US$18.771 million were allotted, a first since the auction system was introduced.

The highest rate offered at both the main and SME auctions was $90 while the lowest accepted was $77 and $80 respectively.

Nearly half the funds were availed for purchase of raw materials, machinery and equipment, consumables, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, fuel, electricity and gas.
New Ziana