The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe held the first foreign currency auction this year, with the Zimbabwean dollar marginally weaker at 82.09 per 1 United States Dollar, as compared to 81.79 the last time the auction was conducted in December.

Apparently, 36 Million United states dollars was allocated, with 512 bids for both the main auction and the SMEs auction being received.

However, only 469 bidders met the set guidelines.

As has become the norm, raw materials accounted for the largest portion of around 17.2 Million United States dollars.

Machinery and Equipment got 4.6 Million United States dollars, while the remainder was shared among fuel, Electricity, Gas, Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals sectors.

The allocations this Tuesday further demonstrated the Central Bank’s capacity to fund the foreign Currency Auction system that has been successful in stabilising the exchange rate. -zbc

Read statement below;