Businesses warned against profiteering

Rejoice Makoni Herald Correspondent

The Economic Empowerment Group (EEG) has warned businesses against sabotaging the achievements made by the Second Republic through price increases.

The remarks follow an unprecedented increase in prices of basic goods, especially in local currency.

Retailers and wholesalers peg their prices on the parallel market rate when a customer is paying in local currency.

However, they use the interbank rate when a customer is paying in foreign currency.

“We learnt with great disappointment that the beneficiaries of the foreign currency auction system are involved in the perpetration of economic sabotage,” said Mr Kashambe.

“The Second Republic’s strong economic reforms were now bearing fruit, with roads being constructed, dams being built and construction of innovation hubs and the energy sector being revived, among others.

“We as the EEG, we lobby for the economic empowerment of the people of Zimbabwe, hence we do not tolerate unscrupulous business practices. On our next meeting, we are going to name and shame the saboteurs.”

Mr Kashambe said businesspeople must be patriotic and stop destabilising the economy.

To tame price hikes, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube recently introduced a raft of measures to curb price increases. Some of the measures include the scrapping of duty on basic commodities and granting a 100 percent retention of domestic foreign currency earnings, among others.

EEG secretary general Mr Tinashe Chikondowa encouraged businesspeople to bank their foreign currency to improve the circulation of money in the economy.