Harare, (New Ziana) – The Zimbabwe dollar weakened against the greenback for the fourth straight week in Tuesday’s trade, settling at $68.89.

A month after the local currency was allowed to freely float, its value has slid from $25 to $53.36 in the first weekly forex auction to $63.74 and $65.87 in the second and third respectively.

Re-introduction of the weekly auctions has breathed life into the formal market, which was struggling to access foreign currency.

It also forced a drop in the foreign currency parallel market rate, which once topped $100, to around $93.

The highest allotted bid at Tuesday’s auction was $85 while the lowest allotted was $64.20.

A total of 289 bids amounting to US$18.72 million were received, of which US$15.99 million was allotted and 59 bids were rejected.

While the minimum bid at the auction is US$50 000 and maximum is US$500 000 per bid, the central bank has allowed smaller players to combine their bids to meet the minimum threshold.

Funds are allocated according to the RBZ’s priority list.

The bulk of the amount, about US$5.6 million was allocated to raw materials acquisition, while US$3 million went towards machinery and equipment.

Retail and distribution got about $2.5 million while consumables got $1.4 million and pharmaceuticals and chemicals were allocated US$1.26 million.

Services, paper and packaging, fuel, electricity and gas got the remainder.

“Bids with overdue CD1s, outstanding bills of entry, and those with sufficient FCA balances were also disqualified, whilst some were allocated on a pro-rata basis,” said the central bank.
New Ziana