Tag: RBZ

Zim’s Forex Auction System Backlog Chokes Pharmaceutical Operations

Michael Gwarisa

DELAYS in the disbursement of foreign currency by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) foreign exchange auction system is threatening the existence of Zimbabwe’s pharmaceutical sector amidst indications that pharmaceutical operators are in some instances going for two and half months without getting any disbursement from the auction system. By Michael Gwarisa Zimbabwe adopted the Dutch Foreign Exchange System in June 2020 whereby business can access foreign currency at an RBZ set exchange rate in a move that was meant to stabilize and tame the peripatetic parallel market rate. Speaking…

Read More

AHFoZ Endorses Forex Ban

Healthtimes

THE Association for Health Funders of Zimbabwe (AHFoZ) has welcomed the ban of multiple currencies in local transactions noting this will regularize the healthcare supply chain. By Kudakwashe Pembere This move comes barely a month after AHFoZ told parliamentarians there was need to have a uniform pricing regime in the healthcare sector after observing how  healthcare providers charged in foreign currency at the expense of the majority which hardly has that money. The association  recommended the sole currency of the Zimbabwean Dollar or dollarisation. AHFoZ chief executive officer Mrs Shylet…

Read More

RBZ Ignores Looming ARV Crisis

Healthtimes

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s reluctance to release the much needed US$6 million by the National Aids Council of Zimbabwe (NAC) could plunge the nation into Antiretroviral shortage imminently. By Kudakwashe Pembere This was said by the CCM Coordinator Mr Oscar Mundida at a Civil Society Organisation workshop on Universal Health Coverage organized by UNAIDS and Zimbabwe Aids Network. Mr Mundida said NAC is yet to get their hands on the US$6 million to settle arrears they owe to ARV suppliers. The CCM Coordinator explained that Zimbabwe has nothing to…

Read More

RBZ Mum On Pharmaceutical Industry Forex Allocation

NewsRoom

THE Central Bank is not forthcoming in addressing complaints raised by pharmaceutical wholesalers where local banks have been refusing to allocate them foreign currency, HealthTimes has learnt. By Kudakwashe Pembere Since the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s directive putting pharmaceutical companies on high priority allowing them to get foreign currency without hassles at banks, they have been hitting brick walls. This has been a massive blow to the pharmaceutical industry who rely on foreign currency allocations to procure medicines. The industry has been failing to procure medicines as foreign suppliers have…

Read More

#EXCLUSIVE: Pharmacies Defy Official US$1: RTGS$2, 50 Rate

NewsRoom

MOST pharmacies in Harare are still using the black market foreign currency exchange rate shunning the official rate of US$1: RTGS$2, 5, HealthTimes has established. By Kudakwashe Pembere In a survey around the city’s pharmacies, the publication discovered that they were charging between the range of US$1 as to RTGS$4 and RTGS$4,50. Most pharmacies even hiked the prices of their medicines in the US$. Asked about  the monetary policy view as presented by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mangundya, a pharmacist said it was about time they conceded…

Read More

RBZ Injects US$6, 7 million To Allay Medicine Shortages

NewsRoom

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) yesterday pumped in US$6, 7 million to mitigate the shortage of much needed foreign currency for the supply and manufacturing of medicines in the health sector, a Cabinet Minister said on Friday. By Kudakwashe Pembere A cross section of the health sector called on the apex bank to consider allocating a chunk of the US$500 million line of credit announced in the Monetary Policy Statement last week to the health sector which for months has been enduring the foreign currency crisis which caused the…

Read More