Zimbabwe dollar in dramatic fall

Feb 27, 2008, 12:29 GMT

Harare - Zimbabwe's shaky dollar has taken a huge knock on the unofficial market for foreign exchange in the last week, it emerged Wednesday.

Officially, the value of the Zimbabwe dollar is fixed at 30,000: 1 US dollar. But traders, businessmen, fuel vendors and even parastatals like Air Zimbabwe keep an eye on black market rates to set their prices.

Last Tuesday, the Zimbabwe dollar was trading at 10,168,387.69:1 US dollar on the Old Mutual Implied Rate, financial reports said. Seven days later the rate stood at 19,573,700.46.

Prices in shops and supermarkets shot up this week as traders struggle to make money to cover replacement costs.

In one store, sardines, which were trading at 15 million Zimbabwe dollars per can on Tuesday sold at 30 million on Wednesday, dog food rose from 60 million dollars to 240 million per 5 kilogram bag and the cost of a single toilet roll 5 million to 8 million.

The state National Incomes and Pricing Commission (NIPC), which was set up to control prices, has 'noted with concern' the new wave of price hikes, state radio reported Wednesday.

Inflation in Zimbabwe stands at more than 100,000 per cent, the highest in the world.

At independence in 1980, the Zimbabwe dollar traded almost at parity with the British pound.