BY PRAISEMORE SITHOLE
THE National Consumer Rights Association (NACORA) has called on government to urgently convene an all-stakeholders summit to address causes of the plunging Zimbabwe dollar and crumbling economy.
Inflation rose to 785,55% last month and NACORA advocacy and campaigns advisor Effie Ncube said the situation was already hyperinflationary.
“We are seriously concerned over the runaway inflation that has placed most basic commodities beyond the reach of the majority of Zimbabweans,” Ncube said.
“As a consequence of this, hunger and poverty have deepened in a way that has placed in jeopardy the food and nutritional security of many households.”
Ncube added: “We are calling on the government to urgently convene an all-stakeholders summit that will address the plunging Zimbabwe dollar and the political causes behind the collapse of the economy.”
There has been pressure on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to dump the local currency and adopt the multi-currency system, using the US$ as a reference point, that was introduced in 2009 and abandoned in February last year.
Ncube said as long as the business community and consumers did not have confidence in the Zimbabwe dollar, there would be no economic revival.
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“The Zimdollar will continue to collapse and drag millions into poverty and hunger as it loses purchasing power,” said Ncube.
Meanwhile, retailers yesterday were allegedly rejecting the $2 notes across the country. Traders at Harare’s Mbare Msika market refused trading using the $2 notes. The situation was the same in Kadoma and other cities.
Kadoma Progressive Residents Association secretary George Goliati said: “Shop owners at Rumwe shopping centre were refusing to accept $2 notes as legal tender. This started with illegal forex dealers in Kadoma. This is wrong. Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) must act,” he said.
Former Kadoma mayor Peter Matambo said: “What is happening in Kadoma is a cause for grave concern to residents and visitors. It should also be a concern to the government as shop owners are refusing to accept $2 notes as payment for goods.”
