ON Tuesday, Zimbabweans woke up to the news that a family of six people now needed $9 000 to make ends meet as the Zimbabwe dollar continues to plummet on the parallel market, reaching levels of US$1 to 78, depending on the mode of exchange.
So bad is the currency situation that the spreads of the exchange rate range from US$1:25 on the official market, while on the parallel market, it’s anything from 55 to 78.
Government has suspended accounts of suspected currency manipulators, arrested thousands of illegal forex dealers and closed bureaux de change allegedly fanning the parallel market.
It even went as far as to suspend the transfer of shares in dual-listed companies to avoid manipulation of the exchange rate.
Even central bank governor, John Mangudya, has taken to hurling insults at the illegal foreign currency dealers, equating them to the coronavirus and the exchange rate movement situation to “Sodom and Gomorrah”.
