Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Costantino Chiwenga says the long arm of the law would soon catch up with illegal foreign currency dealers.
While officially opening the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) at International Business Conference last week, Chiwenga said indiscipline on the parallel market has caused the draw back of the operationalization of the foreign currency auction system .
“Inflation has been on the decline with the year-on-year rate falling to 56 per cent and forecast to be much lower by year-end, this is underpinned by a strong macro-economic framework and close coordination between the fiscal and monetary authorities as demonstrated by the sustained fiscal discipline and tight monetary conditions.
“The operationalization of the foreign currency auction system has set us firmly on the path to price and exchange rate stability, the drawback which we continued to face is indiscipline on the parallel market which continued to stir up negative expectations that undermined the impressive efforts by the monetary authorities,” Chiwenga said.
The vice president warned those abusing the foreign currency saying the law will deal with them.
“I wish to warn the perpetrators of this heinous crime that the long arm of the law will soon catch up with them so those who are practicing it be warned,” said Chiwenga.
Zimbabwe adopted the Dutch Foreign Exchange System in June 2020 to allow businesses to access foreign currency at a Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) set exchange rate in a move that was meant to stabilize the parallel market rate.
The rate has since then been somewhat stable as it has been hovering around US$1: ZWL$85 rate for months.
Delays in paying allorted forex has, however, forced some to go to the parallel market.