Tobacco to increase forex inflows 

Source: Tobacco to increase forex inflows | The Herald March 2, 2019 Ellen Chasokela Herald Reporter Foreign currency inflows into the country are set to improve next month, with the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) having indicated that the 2019 tobacco marketing season will open on March 21. TIMB has so far recorded a […]

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Source: Tobacco to increase forex inflows | The Herald March 2, 2019

Tobacco to increase forex inflows

Ellen Chasokela Herald Reporter
Foreign currency inflows into the country are set to improve next month, with the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) having indicated that the 2019 tobacco marketing season will open on March 21.

TIMB has so far recorded a 44 percent increase in farmers who have registered for the season to 170 169 farmers from 118 142 last year. Of the 170 842 registered growers, 41 552 are new.

Farmers last year delivered a record 252 million kilogrammes of flue-cured tobacco worth $737,2 million. This was after Government came up with an input and infrastructural support scheme that was handled by Agribank and TIMB. The previous record was 237 million kg, which was achieved in 2000. TIMB corporate communications manager Mr Isheunesu Moyo said preparations for the marketing season were progressing well and they had so far licensed 30 contractors and 31 buyers. He said they were still carrying out crop assessment and would soon complete the last phase of the assessment.

“Preparations for the 2019 marketing season are underway and we will soon complete the crop assessment,” he said. “We have 31 registered contractors this season and 31 buyers.”

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Zimbabwe Devaluation Sees Return of Market Sense, But Only Some 

Source: Zimbabwe Devaluation Sees Return of Market Sense, But Only Some – Bloomberg  Quasi currencies have fallen to 2.5 to the dollar in past week  Central bank ended dollar parity for the currencies on Feb. 20 Zimbabwe’s currency devaluation last week has led to a more realistic exchange rate, yet thin trading implies the new […]

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Source: Zimbabwe Devaluation Sees Return of Market Sense, But Only Some – Bloomberg

  •  Quasi currencies have fallen to 2.5 to the dollar in past week
  •  Central bank ended dollar parity for the currencies on Feb. 20

Zimbabwe’s currency devaluation last week has led to a more realistic exchange rate, yet thin trading implies the new official interbank market isn’t as free as officials suggested.

The central bank announced on Feb. 20 that its quasi-currencies — bond notes and their electronic equivalent — would no longer be valued at parity to the dollar and would be traded on an official interbank market.

Since then, the bond notes, now known as RTGS dollars, have weakened to 2.5 against the greenback, while the black market rate has appreciated almost 9 percent to 3.36 per dollar, according to marketwatch.co.zw, a website run by financial analysts in Harare. The tight trading band on the interbank market — rates have ranged between 2.5001 to 2.5042 this week — indicates trading isn’t totally free. The RBZ seems to be the only supplier of dollars, with just $7.7 million traded as of Thursday, a person familiar with the matter said.

The gap between Zimbabwe's formal and parallel FX rates is still wide

There’s also been some improvement, again modest, with equities.

The dollar squeeze roiled the stock market, with locals piling into it to hedge against inflation, which is officially 57 percent but may be as high as 270 percent, according to Steve H. Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. That caused foreign investors such as Cape Town-based Allan Gray Ltd. — which struggle to get their money out of the country because of capital controls — to write down their holdings to more realistic levels. They measure how out of whack prices are by taking the difference between the Harare and London shares of Old Mutual Ltd., Africa’s largest insurer.

The Harare stock has sunk 18 percent this week to $7.50, which in Zimbabwe’s skewed markets is a sign that the liquidity crisis is easing. It’s now 4.5 times the price of that in London, when converted to dollars, down from 6.3 in January.

Old Mutual shares are 4.5 times more expensive in Zimbabwe than London

Investors won’t be confident the foreign-exchange crisis is over until Zimbabwe’s formal and informal currency rates and the so-called Old Mutual implied rate all converge.

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Chinhoyi municipality seek city status

Source: Chinhoyi municipality seek city status | Daily News CHINHOYI – CHINHOYI Municipality looks set to seek city status, with a formal motion seeking that designation being put before residents. In a notice by the municipality, it was seeking submissions from residents with proposals set to be submitted to the council offices no later than April […]

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Source: Chinhoyi municipality seek city status | Daily News

CHINHOYI – CHINHOYI Municipality looks set to seek city status, with a formal motion seeking that designation being put before residents.

In a notice by the municipality, it was seeking submissions from residents with proposals set to be submitted to the council offices no later than April 15.

“Notice is hereby given in terms of Subsection (1) of section 14 of the Urban Council Act [Chapter 24:15] that it is intended to recommend to the President that he exercises the powers conferred on him in terms of Section 14 of the Urban Council Act [Chapter 29:15] to establish City of Chinhoyi from a municipality,” read part of the notice.
The notice indicated that the proposed city would be made up of wards 1-15 and advised that reports relating to the matter can be inspected at the Local Government offices in Harare or the Chinhoyi municipality offices.

A commission to assess its readiness for the elevation to city status has been set up in accordance with the law. Commission members will include former Kwekwe City Council town clerk Ngwena Musara as chairperson, principal director in the Local Government ministry Erica Jones, engineer Edwick Vheremu, principal planning officer Kudakwashe Hlatshwayo, financial advisor Theodre Dzvairo and principal administrative
officer Munyaradzi Motsi.

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CARD CLONING GANG STEALS $26K FROM FIRM

FOUR men from Bulawayo have been arrested after they
allegedly swindled a private company of $26 000 by cloning the company’s bank
card.

Divine Gandawa (38), from Nkulumane 12, Farai Gandawa (29)
from Pumula South, Malcom Stanley Migogo (36) …

FOUR men from Bulawayo have been arrested after they allegedly swindled a private company of $26 000 by cloning the company’s bank card. Divine Gandawa (38), from Nkulumane 12, Farai Gandawa (29) from Pumula South, Malcom Stanley Migogo (36) from Cowdray Park and Cylous Ndlovu (38) from Pumula South appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Ms Sbonginkosi Mkandla facing charges of fraud last

CARETAKER RAPES TWO PUPILS

A CARETAKER at a school in Kezi, Matabeleland South has
been jailed 30 years for raping two siblings aged 10 and 12 years and infecting
one with syphilis.

 Sikhangele Sibanda (30) who works at Donkwe Donkwe
Secondary School met the two juvenile…

A CARETAKER at a school in Kezi, Matabeleland South has been jailed 30 years for raping two siblings aged 10 and 12 years and infecting one with syphilis.  Sikhangele Sibanda (30) who works at Donkwe Donkwe Secondary School met the two juveniles who learn at Donkwe Donkwe Primary School while they were collecting firewood and raped them one after the other. He pleaded not guilty to two