Zim trades in foreign currency
2008-09-26 20:21
Special Report
Zimbabwean prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai says there has been progress in talks between the country's two political parties.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says he doesn't expect the US sanctions on his country to be lifted soon.
Harare - Zimbabwe began officially trading in foreign currency on Friday in what is seen as tacit acknowledgment that its own currency has collapsed.
The change is expected to ease acute food shortages that have coincided with Zimbabwe's record inflation and economic meltdown.
The central bank said it issued about 600 licenses allowing stores, supermarkets, gasoline importers and other businesses to import and sell goods for US dollars, South African Rand and other foreign currencies.
The licensed shops are reminiscent of Soviet-era hard currency shops in Eastern Europe.
With the collapse of the tourism industry as well as agricultural and manufactured exports, most of the foreign currency in the country comes from the millions of Zimbabweans working overseas and sending money home to relatives.
Much of it is already traded on the illegal black market. Central bank researchers say Zimbabweans spend millions of US dollars each month on shopping trips to neighboring countries to buy the corn meal staple, cooking oil and other goods including spare car parts and electronics.
With foreign currency trade now legal, business managers said they expected goods to slowly return to supermarket shelves, though it would take time to find stocks and work out financial details.
Stores will be able to sell goods for both hard currency and the local Zimbabwe dollar. Only imported goods may be sold for hard currency.
The Reserve Bank said in a statement it charged businesses US$20 000 for a license, and will also get 15% percent of the foreign currency sales.
Economic meltdown
Officials at one nationwide store chain said they would open a few foreign currency outlets in coming weeks, but were unable to come up with the US$600,000 fee needed to license 30 supermarkets.
The government and central bank have been struggling to contain Zimbabwe's economic meltdown, with official inflation at 11 million percent - the highest in the world - though independent financial institutions put real inflation closer to 50 million percent.
Some 4.5 million Zimbabweans have fled to countries and as far as the US, Australia and former colonial power Britain. As many as two million are living in South Africa, according to central bank estimates.
Zimbabwe had been self-sufficient in most household supplies until June 2007, when the government ordered a price freeze that forced businesses to sell products below cost. Now, toilet tissue is being imported from Malaysia, toothpaste from Egypt and soap from Iran.
In August the central bank struck 10 zeros from the Zimbabwe currency, but computerised accounting systems and automatic tellers have been unable to handle transactions in trillions of local dollars.
Aid agencies estimate up to two million people will need food aid next month, amid regular power and water outages and chronic shortages of gasoline, corn meal, bread, milk and other staples.
- AP