Harare, (New Ziana) – The Zimbabwe dollar on Tuesday slid 4.7 percent against the United States dollar to settle at $72.15 at the weekly foreign currency auction, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) said.

This was the fifth straight time the local currency has depreciated against the greenback since it was allowed to freely float late last month.

Since the local currency was allowed to freely float slightly over a month ago, 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.

Last week, it was at $68.89.

According to the RBZ, the highest rate on offer at Tuesday’s auction was $82.17 while the lowest accepted rate was $70.

A total of US$14.854 million was allotted against bids amounting to US$20.316 million.

The total number of bids received was 290 of which 51 were disqualified.

“Bids which were not eligible in terms of the priority list were disqualified,” the central bank said.

Half the amount allotted, US$7.4 million, went towards purchase of raw materials, followed by machinery and equipment which got US$2.3 million.

Retail and distribution, consumables, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, services, paper and packaging, fuel, electricity and gas were sectors
that got a share of the allocation.

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

The official rate however is still trailing the parallel market which is around $95.
New Ziana