WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2001-08-29 Posted By: Jan
From the News Archives of: WWW.AfricanCrisis.Org
Date & Time Posted: 8/29/2001 3:24:15 AM
Currency seizures may force companies out of Zimbabawe
28/06/2001
In a desperate bid to solve the fuel and electricity crisis in Zimbabwe, the
country’s central bank has announced measures to seize more foreign currency
from exporters. However, the move is expected to dissuade investment in
Zimbabwe, and is also likely to force foreign companies already operating in
the country to pull out.
The Zimbabwe Reserve Bank has apparently ordered exporters to sell 40% of
their hard currency earnings to the state, up from the 25% they have been
required to hand over for the past two years.
Mark Chavunduka, editor of the Standard Newspaper, said all exporters, both
local and foreign, would be affected by the new law. The situation would
worsen as companies need to put back foreign currency into their businesses.
“They need the cash to import raw materials, machinery and in the case of
foreign owned companies they need to remit dividends in foreign currency and
not in Zimbabwean dollars. So this will be a serious problem for them, for
especially foreign owned companies,” he says.
Just last month, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe threw out an application by
three leading commercial banks to repatriate about three billion worth of
dividends to their overseas shareholders.
Chavunduka said it was unlikely that the new law would be able to turn
Zimbabwe’s economy around, but would instead be more likely to compound the
economy’s negative turn. “Analysts here think that the move is likely to
result in a further scarcity of foreign exchange as the premium on the
parallel market would increase rapidly. It is estimated here that 80% of all
foreign currency transactions are now on the parallel black market, which the
government has been unable to control. But you also have to appreciate that
the foreign currency situation is being compounded by government’s refusal to
depreciate the Zimbabwe dollar against the major currencies.”
Labour movement may respond with strike action
Zimbabwe’s main labour movement said today it was considering calling a
strike next week to protest against drastic fuel price hikes which President
Robert Mugabe’s government has refused to reverse.
Nomore Sibanda, a spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU), said Monday and Tuesday were likely dates for a strike. “The official
position is that we don’t have a date yet. The ZCTU general council…will
sit down on Saturday to consider the feed back and to announce the details,”
he said. A consensus may be emerging…for national protest to take place on
Monday and Tuesday.”
Political analysts warn that a big national strike or streets protests could
raise the political temperature close to boiling point. Political tensions
have barely abated since early last year when a violent campaign blamed
largely on supporters of Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party left at least 31
people dead before last June’s general election.
The ZCTU gave the government 14 days to scrap the 70% fuel price rise the
state oil importer National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) imposed on June
12 due to higher import prices and acute fuel shortages.
The government has urged unions to demand higher pay from employers to meet
the rising cost of living. It says a strike would hurt an economy in its
third year of recession with unemployment at about 60%.
But the ZCTU, which has the support of most of Zimbabwe’s 1,2 million
workers, says the government is asking workers to bail out a state oil
company “notorious for corruption” and inefficiency.
The southern African country has suffered erratic fuel supplies since
December 1999 after Noczim’s credit lines were cut over a $163 million debt.
The business community says the fuel rises will drive up costs and force the
closure of companies hit by the worst economic crisis since independence from
Britain 21 years ago. Production at commercial farms is also expected to fall
sharply this year due to a government programme of land seizures that have
severely hampered agricultural operations. – Reuters