FIU said inflating figures of school fees in local currency
by using parallel market exchange rates is an affront to the gains made so far
in stabilising the national economy. The warning comes in the wake of a number
of schools around the country having started issuing out fees structures for
the third term to parents and guardians.
It has emerged that most private schools have fees
structures in USD and RTGS. However, the RTGS figures are speculative and
beyond the prevailing bank rate and even black market rates. The Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) director-general, Mr
Oliver Chiperesa, said such practices by schools, both private and public, were
illegal.
“Forward pricing and using parallel market rates is
illegal. All institutions are required to use the official exchange rate
obtaining at any given time. The FIU will be engaging the schools doing that
whenever we get complaints of such nature on our hotlines which we regularly publicise.
We urge the public to continue giving us such reports and
we will definitely investigate the malpractice and ensure the necessary
corrective steps are taken through the relevant authorities,” he said.
In circulars seen by Sunday News, a number of private
schools in Bulawayo have inflated fees for the third term using an unofficial
rate of US$1: ZWL$10 000 against the official exchange rate which stood at US1:
ZWL$4 559 last week.
At some institutions where the illegal black market model
is used, the fees in local currency are pegged at ZWL$14 million, ZWL$15 440
000 and ZWL$19 800 000, and are subject to an upward review as the clock ticks
towards the opening of schools.
“If you get a school fees invoice of US$2 400 as is the
case at a school where my son goes to, expect the RTGS figure to be around
ZWL$24 million because these private schools seem to operate outside RBZ laws,
and that has been going on for a long time.
As we move closer to the opening of schools, you will hear
of more astronomical figures from other established private schools
countrywide,” said a parent with a child at a private school in Bulawayo.
According to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary
Education school calendar for 2023, the third term is set to resume on 4 September
and end on 1 December.
The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) Matabeleland Region
manager, Mr Comfort Muchekeza, said although it was commendable that the
schools communicated the fees structure while there was still time, the
unofficial rate they were using was “unacceptable and out of this world”.
“Starting with the positive, what the schools have done in
terms of notice period should be commendable, advising parents beginning of
August for the third term fees gives parents and guardians enough time to
adjust their budgets and gear themselves for the increment.
What worries us as CCZ and I believe even the Government
and the monetary authorities is the use of black-market rates of US$1: ZWL$10
000. This is almost double the official rate be it the inter-bank or auction
rate plus the 10 percent margin.
The schools should just notify parents to say if paying
using any other currency which is not the US dollar, official rates should
apply, yes the amount to be paid in other currencies will be different
depending on the rates by the time payment is made.”
He said private schools were engaging in speculative
behaviour by already predicting that the rates by the third term would be US$1:
ZWL$10 000, which was contrary to what was happening on the ground. Mr
Muchekeza said the past few months have witnessed a significant gain in value
of the Zimbabwean dollar against the US dollar, something that has stabilised
rates even on the black market.
Meanwhile, the FIU has indefinitely frozen bank accounts of
a number of major suppliers of goods and services for allegedly refusing to
transact in local currency and engaging in forward pricing, malpractice
believed to be fuelling exchange rate volatility.
Furthermore, the Government suspended licences for 17
pharmacies in different parts of the country that were using parallel market
exchange rates, violating Government policy and the country’s anti-money
laundering regulations.
Industry experts say the Government has made considerable
progress in stabilising the economy, the exchange rate and general prices of
goods and services by implementing a variety of fiscal and monetary
stabilisation measures.
As an indication of the market’s positive response to a
series of policy interventions put in place by the Government and the monetary
authorities, prices for basic goods and
services have stabilised as the local currency has continued to firm. Sunday
News
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