Zim allows shops to transact in foreign currency

Zim allows shops to transact in foreign currency
By Kingsley Kaswende in Harare
Friday September 12, 2008 [04:00]

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has legalised licensed shops to sell goods in foreign currency. In a move described by economists as dollarisation of the economy, RBZ Governor Gideon Gono said he will license 1,000 retail and 250 wholesale shops countrywide in a bid to ease the burden on people who have been facing problems accessing Zimbabwean dollar in cash.

Of late, most goods and services have illegally been pegged in US dollars or South African rands.

"The reserve bank is pleased to hereby unveil the introduction of Foreign Exchange Licenced Warehouses and Shops (FOLIWARS)," he said at a press briefing on Wednesday. "As Monetary authorities, we have watched and observed with heavy hearts the suffering of fellow Zimbabweans as they waited and continue to wait in long queues at the borders seeking to bring in basic commodities. We have also seen desperate mothers and youths spending cold nights in foreign lands in pursuit of basic commodities."

Gono said his heart was bleeding at the daily sights of workers being laid off due to industrial capacity underutilisation and struggling with the unavailability of basic goods and services.

"It is for this reason; the reason to stand for and defend the welfare of fellow Zimbabweans that the FOLIWARS are being introduced for an initial period of 18 months to 31 March, 2010 as an experiment as we gear ourselves for the 2010 World Cup Games which must find ourselves ready to cater for all visitors to our country," he said.
Gono said all successful applicants would be issued with licences for immediate assumption of operations by not later than September 26, 2008.

Zimbabweans in the diaspora have up to October 10, 2008 to send in their applications, Gono added.