The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has authorised SME access to USD500 a month to enable the small to medium enterprises to continue to do business according to an article published by Business Times Zimbabwe today.
This move is expected to help businesses stay afloat as the majority of them access foreign currency illegally on the black market which has exorbitant rates which most individuals and SMEs can barely afford.
The Business Times reports that;
“The interventions by the RBZ comes at a time when the SMEs have been battling to access foreign currency at the Dutch foreign currency auction system, forcing them to source the greenback from the black market, where premiums are high.
But the main challenge is that the bureau of changes have been failing to meet the demand as the facilities are mostly characterised by long queues and the foreign currency is not available on a daily basis and therefore access to foreign currency will remain a challenge especially to the SMEs.”
Zimbabwe’s economic space has SMEs as the majority of players as entrepreneurs have forged their own path and started their own businesses to contribute to the nation’s GDP and improve theirs and their families standard of living. This, coupled with the scarcity of foreign currency in the financial market gives rise to SMEs and individuals paying more that the official rate to get the greenback.
The success of this initiative will pave way to more financial changes which will help the small business grow and in turn raise employment levels in the country.
