The Zimbabwe dollar fell by 3.07% against the American dollar (USD) to settle at ZWL$ 138.1979 in today’s foreign currency auction system although its value still remains far above market expectations.
The auction system was meant to avail foreign currency to local companies for production and to also establish the value of the local currency but this has not been effectively achieved owing to manipulation of the system which has led to the continued widening of the official exchange rate and the parallel market rate.
As of today, the parallel market rate was trading at ZWL$ 240/USD which is a 74% difference from the official rate.
A total of US$ 36 807 431.02 was awarded to various companies from a cumulative 1 424 accepted bids reflecting strong demand for the USD currency.
Of this total, 1 011 bids were from the SME auction while 413 were from the Main auction.
The highest rate received from bidders was ZWL$ 150 from both the SME and Main auctions while the lowest bid rate allotted was ZWL$ 131 for the SME and ZWL$ 134 for the Main auction.
For the Main auction, US$ 12.2 million was channeled towards procurement of raw materials by local companies receiving the highest allocation followed by machinery and equipment at US$ 7.7 million.
For the SME auction, machinery and equipment dominated the allocations at US$ 2.3 million while raw materials followed at US$ 1.5 million.
