THE Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) yesterday said tobacco auction floors will conduct all their businesses in United State dollars (USD), despite the recent expansion of the official multi-currency basket to include Chinese yuan, Australian dollar, Indian rupee and the Japanese yen.
Tarisai Mandizha
In an interview with NewsDay, TIMB chief executive officer Andrew Matibiri said the tobacco sector was governed by the statutory instrument introduced in 2004 which compels all transactions to be in USD.
Matibiri’s remarks, which came on the eve of the official opening of the 2014 tobacco selling season, are meant to allay fears that farmers could be forced to accept newly-introduced Asian currencies.
“We are governed by the statutory instrument of 2004 which stipulates that all transactions in the tobacco industry should be in USD,” Matibiri said.
“But if growers want to access other currencies, yuan or rupees, they can do so through their own banks.”
The tobacco selling season begins today with three auction floors participating.
Last year, a total of 166 million kilogrammes went under the hammer. The auction floors are Premier Tobacco Auction Floor, Tobacco Sales Floor and Boka Tobacco Auction Floors.
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“This week we are expecting it (tobacco deliveries) to be fairly low. We don’t expect a high turnout in the number of growers.” He, however, said this year, the opening season was expected to begin on a higher note to set the pace for the selling season.
According to the Monetary Policy Statement announced last month, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe acting governor Charity Dhliwayo said trade and investment ties between Zimbabwe, China, India, Japan and Australlia have grown appreciably, hence the government underscored the importance of including other currencies in the basket of already circulating currencies.
“In this regard, we wish to advise exporters and the general transacting public that in addition to the opening of accounts denominated in Botswana pula, British Sterling pound, euro, South African rand, United States dollar, individuals and corporates can also open accounts denominated in the Australian dollar, Chinese yuan, Indian rupee and Japanese yen,” Dhliwayo said.
Before this latest policy intervention, the multi-currency basket was dominated by the United States dollar, South African rand and Botswana pula.
