Harare, (New Ziana) – The Zimbabwean dollar on Tuesday gained against the greenback for the second week running, closing the week at $82.70.

The local unit last week appreciated against the United States dollar for the first time since it was floated late June.

And this week, it kept the momentum gaining a further 0.9 percent, from $83.32 last week, signalling that it had reached its equilibrium.

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.

Since then it had been on a free fall, which began to show signs of stabilisation at week seven of the weekly auctions.

The lowest the local unit has depreciated to date is $83.39 to the greenback.

The market has lauded the stabilisation of the exchange rate, which is however still trading below the parallel market which ranges between $90 and $105, but has been largely restrained since introduction of the foreign currency auction.

At Tuesday’s auction, the highest rate on offer was $88 while the lowest accepted rate was $73.

A total of US$19.2 million was allocated to nearly 245 bidders at both the main and the small to medium enterprises auction, with 46 bidders having been disqualified.

Foreign currency is allocated according to a set national priority list.
New Ziana