‘No going back on forex blitz’

‘No going back on forex blitz’ Professor Ncube was speaking during the National Assembly’s question and answer session after concerns were raised by legislators that some businesses were pegging prices of commodities in the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency but against parallel market rates.

There is no going back in ensuring that businesses and individuals that are illegally dealing in foreign currency and charging prices above the official exchange rate comply with the law, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, said yesterday.

Professor Ncube was speaking during the National Assembly’s question and answer session after concerns were raised by legislators that some businesses were pegging prices of commodities in the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency but against parallel market rates.

So far, the police have arrested 224 illegal money changers in a blitz that has also seen the RBZ’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) freezing 90 bank accounts.

Apart from freezing bank accounts, the FIU has also fined over 40 people who have been found on the wrong side of the law, mainly for violating the Exchange Control Act. Said Prof Ncube: “We really mean business and want to ensure that our law enforcement agencies are equipped to enforce that (compliance with the official exchange rate). We have instructed the FIU to look at the whole value chain (from manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers) that they are complying with the law.”

Prof Ncube added that Government was working on measures to increase the demand for ZiG and reduce demand for the US dollar.

The first thing, he said, was to ensure stability of the ZiG for it to be accepted as a transacting currency.

“The second issue is to create super demand for the ZiG and we will soon be announcing which taxes that would be paid exclusively in ZiG,” he said.

Prof Ncube said it was important that Zimbabweans safeguard the value of the ZiG as it was a vital component in the country’s quest to achieve its development objective of becoming an empowered upper middle-income economy by 2030.-herald