Zimbabwe President Threatens to Seize Licenses for Currency Manipulation, Price Gouging

Emmerson Mnangagwa, president of Zimbabwe, has said banks and companies engaging in local currency manipulation and unjustifiable price increases might be at risk of losing their operating licenses, Bloomberg reported Sunday (April 24).

The government said has found the entities responsible. Now, the administration is looking into methods to deal with those responsible.

“These economic players are not acting alone, they are being sent by foreign countries hostile to Zimbabwe to weaken our local currency,” Mnangagwa said, speaking at a rally of supporters, Bloomberg wrote.

The president also spoke about the difficulties with prices and exchange rates — according to Bloomberg, the local currency trades officially at 155.14 Zimbabwean dollars to the U.S. dollar, but often changes hands on the streets for Z$350.

The report says the Zimbabewean dollar was down 24% in the first quarter. On the black market though, it depreciated around 20%.

“We have a challenge in our economy, especially around prices and exchange rates,” the president said. “We are working out a solution, we are now closing in on companies that are behind what we have been witnessing lately.”

See also: Zimbabwe’s AgriTech Startup Cholsas Aims to Connect Farmers, Markets and Suppliers

PYMNTS wrote that Cholsas, an agricultural B2B eCommerce market from Zimbabwe, intends to bridge the divide between sectors of the farming industry.

Farming is on every tax bracket in the country, with people doing it as a side hustle and some doing it as their main form of income. And there are also the big commercial operations.

Cholsas, the report said, is trying to let agricultural merchants and service providers market and supply goods for farmers.

Farmers can also sell crops in large quantities to various markets using the same platform. The company’s primary goal was to offer a way for farming to be less fragmented, so someone starting out might have more of a basis to source products and not get an unsuitable supplier.