A new law, Statutory Instrument (SI213), has been gazetted to punish traders who are found charging customers in foreign currency. Businesses will be required to pay a fine of up to Z$6,000 plus Z$1,200 for every day that they don’t comply.
Part of the new law reads:
In particular, no person shall quote, display, label, solicit for the payment of, receive or pay the price of any goods, services, fee or commission in any currency other than the Zimbabwe Dollar.
Over the last two weeks, the exchange rate of the USD to The Zimbabwean Dollar has been sky-rocketing, a development that has seen most businesses changing prices twice a day to avoid losses. Some shops are now covertly charging willing customers in USD and the new Statutory instrument will make them think twice before accepting USD.
