Harare, (New Ziana) – The Zimbabwe government has accused formal retailers of benchmarking prices of their goods against parallel market rates.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) on September 27 stepped in and devalued the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) local currency by over 40 percent in response to the widening gap between the official and parallel exchange rates that caused a surge in ZiG-denominated prices during the period.
Addressing the post Cabinet media briefing on Tuesday, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Jenfan Muswere said his Industry and Commerce counterpart, Mangaliso Ndhlovu had reported that a survey that his Ministry undertook showed that both ZiG and US$ prices are still on the higher side in the formal retail outlets, indicating an element of forward or speculative pricing and benchmarking against the parallel market rates. “The Ministry of Industry and Commerce conducted surveys of the prices and availability of basic commodities over the period 27 September to 4 October, 2024,” he said.
“The ZiG prices of basic commodities in the formal retail outlets have increased in response to the adjustment of the local currency. However, the prices of the commodities in US dollar terms in both the formal and informal outlets have remained stable.”
Muswere said limited stock levels of cooking oil, mealie-meal, bread and sugar were observed in the formal outlets, while the products were readily available in the informal sector.
“This is attributable to arbitrage, as informal retail economic agents seek to capitalize on exchange rate differentials, given the reported cases of hoarding in the formal sector for re-sale to informal outlets.
It is also evident that most suppliers have reduced supplies to the formal sector and are channelling them to the informal market. However, critical to note is the fact that there are no major shortages of basic commodities in the formal retail sector.”
Muswere gave assurances that the government would conduct regular monitoring and stakeholder engagement to ensure market-relevant interventions will continue, while a number of measures have been put in place to support the formal sector.
New Ziana
