HARARE – Property rentals in Zimbabwe are likely to remain subdued due to high tenant default levels, Zimre Property Investments Limited (ZPI) said. The listed realty group said the failure by tenants to pay rentals, coupled with the prevailing liquidity crisis, is hampering rental revenue growth. Its chairperson Buzwani Mothobi said — in the group’s…
HARARE – Old Mutual’s mortgage lender Central Africa Building Society (CABS) has received a $10 million loan from a French financial institution, Proparco. The facility — with a five-year tenure — is targeted at bolstering long-term financing for Zimbabwean businesses. Proparco is a development finance institution partly held by Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and…
HARARE – Zimbabwe is abusing the United States dollar and has effectively devalued the currency due to distorted pricing bordered on the hyperinflationary period mentality, Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa has said. Following galloping inflation — topping 231 million percent — the country abandoned the Zimbabwe dollar to adopt a multi-currency system in 2009 — dominated…
HARARE – Zimbabwe has so far earned $58 million from 19 million kg of tobacco auctioned since the beginning of the 2014 selling season mid-February 19. Statistics from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (Timb) reveal that the latest figures are, however, five percent down compared to $61 million realised in the same period last year after the…
HARARE – More Zimbabwean banks are increasingly becoming foreign-owned despite government’s aggressive indigenisation programme, the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (Baz) has said. Although President Robert Mugabe’s administration has vowed to have the financial sector indigenised, locals lack capital, resulting in the institutions falling in foreign hands following bail out deals. Apart from several ultimatums, former…
HARARE – Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) says Zimbabwe can earn over $400 million from its Marange diamonds annually, resulting in an increase of $60 million in royalties per year. This comes as the country’s diamonds are selling at heavily-discounted prices of about $50 per carat compared to market highs of around $450. The country…
HARARE – Foreign banks are yet to comply with Zimbabwe’s indigenisation policy due to authorities’ delay in approving their compliance plans, the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (Baz) says. This is despite government’s pressure for the institutions to conform to the law compelling foreigners to cede majority shareholding to black locals — with former empowerment minister…
HARARE – Millers and bakers are at loggerheads following the expiry of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by both parties, compelling the latter to acquire 75 percent of their flour locally. While bread is now fairly available, what has largely gone unnoticed are deep-seated “wars” over flour supplies that have strained relations between millers…
HARARE – Zimbabwean financial institutions insist that the recent hike in bank charges is justifiable to meet their operating costs. This comes as banks recently increased levies by at least 50 percent — following expiry of an agreement with the central bank barring them to — resulting in depositor outcry. George Guvamatanga, the Bankers Association…
HARARE – Tobacco prices have receded to an average of $2,91 per kg this season compared to last year’s $3,49, figures from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (Timb) indicate. Zimbabwe, currently struggling to revive its agriculture sector, is the world’s second-largest producer of Virginia tobacco after Brazil. A tobacco industry insider told businessdaily that…
