By Tapiwanashe Mangwiro.
HARARE – Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says it will publish status of fuel finance facilities available to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) for the procurement of fuel for sale to the public in local currency on a weekly basis.
Zimbabwe is facing erratic fuel supplies. Motorists have been left stranded after a sudden shortage of fuel, with public transport operators hiking fares. The southern African nation’s perennial fuel problems have worsened since mid-January this year.
RBZ, in a statement on Tuesday, said for this month, the fuel finance facilities being administered by local banks with support of the apex bank amount to US$120 million. Of this amount, US$18.47 million worth of Letters of Credit have been confirmed for immediate drawing of fuel by OMCs from NOIC depot in Msasa.
The central bank said fuel being procured using free funds under the Direct Fuel Import (DFI) Facility, in line with Statutory Instrument 212 of 2019 will go a long way in augmenting the availability of fuel in the country.
“To ensure that the DFI Facility is not abused, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) and the Banks’ Exchange Control Division are finalizing the establishment of a robust system to monitor all fuel filling stations designated by ZERA to sell fuel under the DFI facility,” it said.
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