Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli
Ncube told Parliament recently that the facility was designed to discourage
abuse of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Foreign Currency Auction System.
Already, the Government has invited petroleum companies to
register under the scheme, with 57 outlets having listed.
“There are fuel companies that access foreign currency from
the auction then claim that they will sell the fuel in Zimbabwe dollars but
then they go on to sell it in US dollars,” said Prof Ncube.
“We are aware of this and we have changed the system.
“What we are doing now is, we have said that any designated
companies and service stations that wish to sell fuel in Zimbabwe dollars, and
we have carefully chosen these, will be supported through a different system
rather than the auction.
“The companies will be supported through letters of credit
that are arranged through the Central Bank and through National Oil Company
(NOIC); that will allow them to access foreign currency through a special
facility backed by the letters of credit at the back of which we then sell the
fuel in Zimbabwe dollars.”
Fuel prices have been unstable over the last month as a
result of global supply gaps caused by the ongoing conflict between Russia and
Ukraine.
Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) chief executive
officer Mr Edington Mazambani said 57 outlets have so far been listed under the
new facility.
“It is a careful selection process and we are only dealing
with those who do business in an honest manner.
“We have outlets that are already selling in domestic
currency so what we are doing is to increase the number.” Sunday Mail
0 comments:
Post a Comment