Zim dollar slightly eases against US$

THE Zimbabwe dollar has eased to trade at 85,07 against the United States dollar at this week’s foreign currency auction from 84,76 last week.

According to data provided by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe after Tuesday’s auction, a total US$34,8 million was awarded to bidders at both the Small to Medium Enterprises and Main auctions.

Last week, a total of US$38,5 million was allotted at the two auctions.

According to RBZ’s latest update, a total of 345 bids were allotted at the main auction while 432 were allotted at the SMEs auction.

As has always been in the past, the bulk of the forex that companies sourced at this week’s auction was for critical raw materials procurement as US$13,8 million from US$15,9 million last week.

A total of US$6,6 million was allotted for machinery and equipment procurement down from last week’s US$6,9 million.

Consumables (spares, tyres and electricals) got US$4 million compared to US$3,9 million last week while US$2,8 million was allocated to the retail and distribution sector (food and beverages, among others).

The same amount was allotted to the sector last week.

Since the introduction of the weekly Foreign Currency Trading System in June last year, the monetary authorities continue to meet the forex demands on the platform. —chronicle.do.zw