Businesses secure US$39,1m from forex auction

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has this week allotted US$39,1 million at the forex exchange auction, reflecting a seven-percentage decrease from last week’s total of US$42 million.

The auction conducted on Tuesday saw the Zimbabwean dollar trading at 105,7 against the United States dollar, which shows stability from the past two weeks.

The bulk of the forex allotted at the auction platform continue to be allotted for raw material procurement, followed by machinery and equipment acquisition.

According to the RBZ post-auction report, a total of US$12,9 million was allotted on the main auction for raw material procurement while the Small to medium Enterprises (SMEs) auction got US$2 million.

Last week, the main auction allotted US$14,7 million for raw material procurement while the SMEs got US$1,8 million.
A total of US$9,6 million was allotted to the main auction for machinery and equipment requirement as compared to US$10,5 million last week.

SMEs on Tuesday received US$2,1 million for machinery and equipment procurement as compared to US$891 000 last week.

Other allocations were made for consumables such as spares, tyres and electricals, as well as retail and distribution, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, fuel, electricity and gas.

The RBZ said the main auction received a total of 604 bids where 236 were disqualified while the SMEs auction received 923 and 311 were disqualified. – The Chronicle