Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Lose Forex Entitlement

Source from:  tobaccoreporter.com US, Thursday, April 5, 2007 04/09/2007

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has scrapped tobacco growers' 15 percent foreign currency entitlement, reports The Herald. Farmers who want to retain this portion will now have to buy foreign currency at the interbank rate. The Zimbabwe dollar has been pegged at Z$250 to the U.S. dollar since July 2006. Farmers have been asking for a more realistic figure somewhere between the official exchange rate and the parallel market rate, which has been fluctuating between Z$15,000 and Z$20,000 in recent weeks. Farmers are paid in local currency, but many of their expenses, including fuel and agricultural imports, are in U.S. dollars because they must be imported. Enditem