HARARE – Zimbabwe’s Central Bank through the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has opened investigations into allegations of “currency manipulation” involving Simbisa, a publicly listed fast foods operator.
This follows the circulation of a proof of payment that started circulating on social media platforms on Wednesday showing the pegging of the ZW$ at 200 to US$1. According to the receipt, the payment was done at a Bakers Inn shop located in Zvishavane.
According to this week’s foreign auction market outcome, the ZW$ is pegged at a near ZW$89 to US$1 while it is trading in the region of ZW$165 – ZW$175 against a dollar on the parallel market.
Posting on its Twitter handle, the RBZ declared that “perpetrators shall be brought to book” while it thanked the country for “exposing the rot”.
This is not a surprising stance by the Central Bank which has blamed everyone else but itself for the country’s currency crisis.
The RBZ has put quite a number of companies under its watch list of currency manipulators as the local currency continues to lose value at an alarming rate.
Recently, the Bank listed names of individuals alleged to be fueling black market activities and announced that they will be barred from accessing their bank accounts as part of the punitive measures.
Last year, the fiscal authorities issued a decree to stop the fungibility of shares belonging to dual-listed Old Mutual, PPC and Seed Co on allegations of manipulating the exchange rate.
Government followed up on that move by suspending all monetary transactions on all mobile money platforms in June 2020 on equally the same allegations of “malpractices, criminality and economic sabotage.”
Everyone else is wrong but ‘themselves.’
Analysing the stance taken by the monetary and fiscal authorities clearly shows that they believe that there are dark forces sabotaging their economic policies. They are victimising business operators and individuals, a move which I believe discourages economic activity.
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