Zim to pay power bills in foreign currencies

Zimbabwe’s central bank has approved a regulation that will allow the country’s power utility, Zimbabwe Power Company, to bill the exporters of goods and services in dollars, euros and other foreign currencies.

Exporters and partial exporters will have to pay their electricity bills at the international cross rate, according to the Exchange Control Order published in the Government Gazette on Monday. An exporter is defined as a business that, on average every quarter, exports 80% or more of its total output in goods and services produced or provided by it in Zimbabwe, for which it receives any foreign currency.

Partial exporters refer to those companies that fall below the 80% mark, but still receive payments in foreign currencies.

Zimbabwe needs to boost its foreign currency reserves because it’s in the midst of a currency crisis that saw the annual inflation rate jump to 192% in June alongside a sharp depreciation in the Zimbabwean dollar.

“This order shall cease to have effect in relations to exporters and partial exporters who are residents of Zimbabwe six months after it is published, unless earlier renewed for a period not exceeding six months,” according to the gazette. -Fin24