Retailers' Association Condemns Businesses Pricing Goods In Forex
Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) president, Denford Mutashu said that the association will not defend businesses that continue to sell goods in foreign currency after the government deemed the practice illegal.
Mutashu made the remarks following reports that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has dispatched teams to monitor that businesses are complying with the new regulations.
With reports abounding that there are some traders still openly charging for goods and services in foreign currency, Mutashu said:
Anyone found selling goods in forex, which is outlawed, is breaking the Exchange Control Act and laws of the country. As you may have heard from the President, Government will soon crack the whip as an association, we will not stand in the way.
… The pricing regime in the country has got to be investigated right through the value chain in view of the unjustified price increases obtaining across the general economy.
Prices of some goods have reportedly gone down marginally following the promulgation of Statutory Instrument 142 of 2019 which reintroduced the Zimbabwe Dolar as the only medium of exchange in local transactions while banning the use of multi-currencies.
Consumer Council of Zimbabwe executive director Ms Rosemary Siyachitema expressed satisfaction with the fall of prices in some shops and hoped that the trend will continue. She said:
We are happy that there are changes being seen in formal shops but we expect prices to go down even further than that and we want to see the reduction of all prices, not certain prices.
Retailers were saying they are buying foreign currency from the black market at high rates but the black market is almost most dead so the prices must fall.
