Zimdollar fell by over 84%, says renowned world economist

Since January 2022, the Zimbabwean dollar has depreciated against the USD by 84.62 per cent, renowned world economist Steve Hanke has said.

Hanke, a professor at John Hopkins University says the Zimdollar is in 1st place on this week’s Hanke’s #CurrencyWatchlist.

He adds that to stop its economic death spiral, Zimbabwe must close the Reserve Bank, put it in a museum, and officially adopt the American dollar.

“Since Jan 2022, the Zimbabwean dollar has depreciated against the USD by 84.62%.

“Zim is in 1st place on this week’s Hanke’s #CurrencyWatchlist. To stop its economic death spiral, #Zimbabwe must mothball the Reserve Bank, put it in a museum, and officially adopt the USD,” he says.

Officially, the Zimdollar has continued to lose value against the US dollar, data released by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe recently revealed.

The central bank said a total of US$17,562,464.59 was allotted today down from US$19,632,591,61, which was allotted last week.

According to the latest auction results by RBZ, the bulk of the allotment went to raw materials followed by machinery and equipment.

The total amount allotted for the Small to Medium Enterprises Forex Auction was US$2,165,675.36 up from US$1,814,191.43.

The total amount allotted on the Main Forex Auction was US$15,396,789.59 down from US$17,818,400.18.

♦ Weighted Average Rate 856.8403 from 831.8147.

How the money was allocated:
Raw Materials……………………………………(SME) US$652,589.50 (MA) US$7,856,434.10

Machinery and Equipment……………………..…(SME) US$525,704.45 … (MA)US$2,891,433.86

Consumables (Incl. Spares, Tyres, Electricals, etc)…(SME) US$339,961.23 … (MA)US$1,264,055.69

Services (Loans, Education, Dividends, Disinvestments…) (SME)US$197,421.92 … (MA) US$1,333,618.55

Retail and Distribution (Incl. Food, Beverages, etc)…(SME)US$251,868.14… (MA)US$991,023.07

Electricity ………………………………………………. (SME) US$9,860.16

Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals …………….… (SME)US$85,531.27 … (MA)US$353,928.77

Paper and Packaging …………………………… (SME)US$102,738.69 ….(MA)US$706,295.19

TOTAL Amount allotted for the SMEFX124/2023 ………..US$2,165,675.36

TOTAL Amount allotted for the MAIN FX130/2023 ………US$15,396,789.59

GRAND TOTAL AWARDED ………………………… US$17,562,464.59

Notes
1. Bids with overdue CD1s, outstanding Bills of Entry (BOEs), insufficient ZWL and those with sufficient FCA balances were also disqualified.

2. Some Bids were allotted on a pro-rata basis.

On 28 February 2023, the weighted average at the foreign currency auction moved to US$1: ZWL$892.6349, fromUS$1: ZWL$881.7513 that was set on 22 February 2023.