Source: Grain imports steady | The Herald September 7, 2016
The Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) says grain imports have been steady, with international payments being made on time despite the cash shortages currently prevailing. Zimbabwe is facing cash shortages, which the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe attributed to a number of reasons including the depletion of bank nostro balances, the high import Bill and externalisation.The shortages, have led to delays by banks in processing international payments for imports and foreign services.
GMAZ chairman Tafadzwa Musarara said adequate mechanisms had been put in place to ensure foreign payments were made timeously.
“We are fully funded to import and we are working closely with the Reserve Bank and our partners to assist in funding our nostro accounts.
“This is so that we can make international payments, so it is not an issue at the moment,” he said.
“We are planning in advance, although we are behind with some outstanding payments, we are able to make remittances and it’s not yet a risky situation.
“There has not been a suspension of supplies, we are managing.”
Mr Musarara said plans had been put in place to ensure that Zimbabwe would have adequate grain until the next harvest.
“We are confident that our flow of maize will continue to come as planned, we also have enough stocks of rice and maize for the festive season and wheat.
“We are more than adequately stocked for the high demand that is associated with the festive season,” he said.
Between January and July this year, the grain millers imported 450 000 tonnes of maize.
Millers were also buying local maize for between $330 and $350.
Zimbabwe, like most of its neighbours in the Southern African Development Community region, is grappling with an El-Nino induced drought, which left almost a quarter of the population requiring food aid.
Government then launched a global appeal for drought relief assistance and has also started importing and distributing maize to vulnerable families. — New Ziana.
COMMENTS
If The Herald says everything is ok you can pretty much take it as announcement of problems. In effect they are trying to get their denial in before the truth comes out
Absolutely!
Plus…
A). Any handouts will continue to be politized so that only ZANU-PF card-holders will receive.
B). Just wait until it comes time to pay the bill for those imports… is the Herald gonna pony-up?
This article seems to be praising grain imports by saying how fantastic we are in making payments on time. What we really should be asking is what happened to our grain exports, why are we no longer exporting and what do we need to do to get back to that situation
So there has been 16 years of drought – my foot! I have said before we had 3 years supply of grain in the silos in my day and they were over flowing that we just about gave away the stuff! Yes a poor season is life, that is why one has reserves in place to supplement a poor harvest This principal can be applied to any aspect, be it self.
However, if you loot and eat you last hen then you have no eggs. The spiral is a domino effect. A broken economy even in you own home means the cupboard is bare and that were this bunch of clowns sit.
Always excuses with not a pot to piss in – stay hungry and don’t come begging on my door step – sleep in your mire!!
Grain imports steady, budget deficit steady, high unemployment steady, corruption steady, economical refugees to SA steady. In 10 years, it will still be steady as she goes.
What a waste.