After struggling to stabilise its currency for the past three years, Zimbabwe on Tuesday turned to a foreign exchange trading system it last used in 2004.
The southern African country was set to introduce a Foreign Exchange Auction System to determine the Zimbabwe dollar exchange rate after the previous systems – namely a currency peg and a managed float – failed to stabilise the Zimbabwe dollar.
The Zimbabwe dollar, which was for the past two months pegged at 25 to the United States dollar, had lost significant value on the parallel market, which is widely used to trade foreign currency.
Prior to adoption of the pegged exchange rate system, the market had used the interbank market system since February 2019, but this too failed to stabilise the exchange rate.
Many informal foreign currency traders are exchanging the Zimbabwe dollar at an rate of between 80 and 100 to the greenback.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mangudya said last week the auction system would operate on the Reuters Forex Trading platform, a real-time electronic trading system.
Mangudya said the auction would improve transparency and efficiency in the trading of forex in Zimbabwe.
The auction system is not new to Zimbabwe, as currency instability back in 2004 saw the country introduce the same system.
It was abandoned within a year following complaints of manipulation of the rate by the central bank, and an inability by foreign currency holders to withdraw their offers from the auction if they were unhappy with bids.
Economist and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Monetary Policy Committee member Eddie Cross said what the market needed for the auction system to be successful was “confidence in the process and transparency”.
Cross said with the central bank lacking reserves, the system would depend on supply and demand.
“If conducted properly and with little interference by authorities, the auction system will achieve the desired objectives,” added Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce chief executive Takunda Mugaga.
