ZIMBABWE’S foreign exchange market remain short of hard currency amid increasing calls for a devaluation of the local unit, dealers said. ”Everyone is saying the only solution for our problem right now is a controlled devaluation to bring the exporters back in,” one dealer said. The market has been starved of money as exporters hold back their earnings to protest the artificial stability of the Zimbabwe dollar, unchanged at 37.9/38.0 to the U.S. dollar since June 1999 under bankers’ controls. Foreign exchange reserves have dwindled to just one day’s import cover on average this year, while inflation and lending rates have soared to around 60 percent and 70 percent respectively. – Reuters
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