Economics
Zimbabwe Turns to Regulations in Bid to Stem Currency Plunge
- Country clamps down on mobile money, tightens exchange rules
- Zimbabwe dollar has plunged since its introduction in June
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Zimbabwe has clamped down on mobile money, tightened controls on foreign-exchange bureaux and dealers and banned the quoting of prices in any currency other than its own dollar as it struggles to manage a monetary system that’s spiraling out of control.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe on Monday stopped operators of mobile-money services, the dominant way in which money is moved in the country, from paying out cash. It also tightened the spread at which dealers and bureaux de change can exchange the Zimbabwe dollar to between 3% and 5% from the official rate, down from a 7% spread imposed less than two weeks ago. On Sept. 28 it banned the quoting of prices in foreign currency.