THE United States dollar remains legal tender in the country and the newly gazetted regulations requiring businesses accessing foreign currency through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) foreign exchange auction system to use the official exchange rate in their pricing mechanisms are meant to curtail market indiscipline.
Statutory Instrument 127 of 2021, gazetted last week,
imposes penalties on businesses accessing foreign exchange on the RBZ platform
and then proceed to peg their prices using parallel market rates.
Responding to questions on the statutory instrument
yesterday, RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya said the new regulations were not
designed to harm businesses but to enforce market discipline and eliminate
arbitrage.
He said businesses pegging their prices using parallel
exchange rates after accessing forex from the auction system were operating
unfairly and their actions were bad for the economy and consumers.
Promulgation of the regulations saw some large scale
retailers yesterday refusing to accept foreign currency at the tills, asking
customers to first exchange their forex at bureau de-changes in-store.
However, Dr Mangudya said the use of foreign currency for
the payment of goods and services was still allowed.
“The purpose of Statutory Instrument 127 is to ensure that
those obtaining foreign exchange from the auction system use the market
exchange rate which is within the auction weighted exchange rate or the auction
bid range,” he said.
“The use of parallel exchange rates of above 100, for
example, on funds obtained from the auction system at $85 to the US$ is not
good for the economy and consumers.
“It is these anomalies or arbitrage opportunities that the
Statutory Instrument is designed to deal with.
“It is not designed to harm business but to provide a level
playing field in business and to protect consumers.” Dr Mangudya said
businesses have been given a grace period of two weeks to comply with the new
regulations.
“Businesses have been given two weeks to regularise their
business operating systems to comply with the Statutory Instrument on the
receipting of goods and services in either foreign currency or local currency,”
he said.
“This is essential to minimise arbitrage on foreign
exchange obtained from the auction system. This Statutory Instrument is
therefore important to enforce compliance which is necessary to continue to
stabilise the economy.”
Some businesses had yesterday started rejecting either the
local currency or forex as a way of circumventing the new regulations. They
however, risk being penalised under the new regulations.
Under the new regime, businesses will be fined $50 000 or
its equivalent in foreign currency for refusing to take payment in local
currency at the official exchange rate. Financial institutions with clients
that fall foul of the regulations will also be fined.
Diverting forex obtained from the auction for other
purposes will now be a punishable offence attracting a penalty of $1 million or
its equivalent in foreign currency.
In addition, businesses trading at the forex auction will
now be required to state the purpose for which they require the forex
resources.
Also gazetted under Statutory Instrument 127 of 2021 is
penalisation of natural or legal person guilty of being a seller of goods or
services not authorised by law to charge for them exclusively in foreign
currency.
Sunday Mail
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