Zimbabwe Tight Spot With Continued Loss Of Value In Local Currency

Tawanda Karombo BUSINESS leaders in Zimbabwe are concerned that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration is seeking to institute price controls after the cabinet resolved this week to engage manufacturers, retailers and other businesses over the current spate of price increases sparked by continued loss in value for the local currency. Zimbabwe’s local unit of exchange has been nose-diving in the past few weeks, plunging to US$1:ZW$2  200 on the parallel foreign exchange market this week, compared to nearly half of that value on official channels. This has sparked a new wave of daily price increases for goods and commodities as businesses seek to pass on the impact of an imploding exchange rate to consumers. “The cabinet is concerned by the spiralling prices of the 14 basic goods, especially bread, flour, cooking oil and mealie-meal.