Zimbabwean central bank secures $500m to ease dollar shortages
Loan from unnamed international banks is intended to ease a dollar crunch
Harare — Zimbabwe’s central bank has secured a $500m loan from unspecified international banks to support interbank currency trading from Monday and to ease a dollar crunch that has brought fuel and medicine shortages, governor John Mangudya said. The central bank introduced a new local currency in February, the RTGS dollar, and launched an interbank trading platform where businesses and individuals could buy and sell US dollars. But dollars have been scarce on the official market, where a US dollar fetches 3.4 RTGS dollars compared with 6.3 RTGS dollars on the black market. The mismatch has seen companies and individuals with dollars selling their money on the black market where premiums are higher, amid charges that the central bank was manipulating the official exchange rate. Mangudya said in a statement that the central bank would start accessing the $500m from Monday “to meet the forex payment requirements of business and individuals”. “This amount shall go a long way to stabil...
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