By A Correspondent| Several major retail shops adjusted their exchange rates to ZiG30 per US dollar yesterday as the local currency continued to weaken, just a day after President Emmerson Mnangagwa attributed the decline to economic “saboteurs.”
Some retailers claimed point-of-sale machines were malfunctioning, forcing customers to make payments in US dollars. NewsDay learned that a number of shops delayed opening, adjusting their prices to align with parallel market rates, which now range between ZiG35 and ZiG40 per US dollar.
One prominent supermarket shifted its exchange rate to US$1, while the parallel market rate hovered around US$1.
On Monday, retailers warned that the government’s enforced exchange rate policy was unsustainable, cautioning that basic goods could soon vanish from shelves.
In response to the worsening economic situation, manufacturers and the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries convened an emergency meeting in Harare yesterday.
The ZiG, launched with much fanfare in April at a rate of US$1.50, has experienced a dramatic fall, despite minimal changes to the official exchange rate.
The currency, purportedly backed by gold and foreign reserves, has plummeted to the extent that pressure is mounting on the government to restore economic stability.
President Mnangagwa, during a Zanu PF politburo meeting on Wednesday, blamed economic detractors for the turmoil.
“Acts of economic sabotage, speculation, and profiteering have no place in our country,” he stated. “These attacks on the economy, aimed at making the public suffer, are unacceptable. My government will protect the ordinary people.”
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and Treasury officials insist that the ZiG’s struggles are due to speculative activities. The RBZ claims it has injected over US$100 million into the market over the past two months in an effort to stabilize the currency—Zimbabwe’s sixth attempt at a stable currency in over a decade.
Critics, including members of Zanu PF, argue that the RBZ’s currency policies are misguided. In 2019, Mnangagwa reintroduced the Zimbabwean dollar after a decade of dollarization, but it quickly succumbed to inflation and was abandoned earlier this year, replaced by the ZiG.
Zanu PF supporter Kudzai Mutisi criticized the RBZ on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “The economy is not under attack; it is deliberately mismanaged by the RBZ and Treasury officials, likely because they benefit from the chaos they create. Zimbabweans deserve a functioning economy, not this disorder.”
Economist Gift Mugano echoed these concerns, noting that the currency’s collapse was inevitable due to the government’s failure to address underlying economic issues before introducing the ZiG.
“Unlike politics, the economy cannot be manipulated or oppressed,” Mugano said.
Exiled former Cabinet minister Walter Mzembi warned that enforcing a currency on the population without proper political support would lead to failure.
“Nothing will work—whether mono-currency or multi-currency—if the political climate is not conducive,” Mzembi said. “Fiscal indiscipline and the government’s reluctance to use its own currency only add to the problem.”
Political commentator Pedzisayi Ruhanya added that economic policies driven by authoritarianism would not succeed.
“The state’s politics must align with its economic policies,” he said. “Command economics, without democratization and amid corruption, will not solve the nation’s problems.”
Ruhanya called for the government to conduct thorough research to better understand the root causes of local currency failures and how they can be addressed effectively.
-Newsday