Harare, (New Ziana) – The Zimbabwean dollar on Tuesday recorded its first gain, albeit marginal, against the greenback in over two months after the local currency was floated, as the market appeared to reach its equilibrium.

The local unit traded at $83.32 against the US dollar at the weekly foreign currency auction, a marginal gain of 0.08 percent.
Last week, it peaked at $83.39.

Previously fixed at $25 to the US dollar, the local unit depreciated by over 50 percent the first time it was freely traded on June 23.

And since then it had been on a free fall, which began to show signs of stabilisation at week seven of the auction when it topped $80.47.

Market watchers have lauded the constancy of the exchange rate which has had a stabilisation effect on prices of goods and services, which were previously ballooning when companies relied on the parallel market for foreign currency.

The black market rate is however still trading at between $95 and $110 and has since the introduction of the foreign currency auction been largely restrained.

At Tuesday’s combined auction for big and small companies, the highest rate offered was $87.5 while the lowest accepted rate was $76.

In a historic development, all bids accepted, which amounted to a combined US$16 million for both the main and small to medium enterprises auction, were awarded.

At least 36 bids were disqualified for various reasons.

Half the allotted amount went towards acquisitions of raw materials while the remainder was divided among other priorities such as drugs, consumables, fuel and gas.
New Ziana