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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter

THE Zimbabwe dollar this week trades at 93,08 against the United States dollar weakening by 3,3 percentage points from last week’s rate of 90,08.

According to an update by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) after this week’s auction on Tuesday, a total of US$47,7 million was allotted from US$36,4 million.

This week’s auction also saw US$36,7 million going towards supporting companies that participated at the main auction while US$11 million was disbursed to the Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) auction.

As has become the norm since the introduction of the weekly auction system in June last year, the bulk of the money allotted at this week’s auction went towards raw material procurement.

A total of US$3 million was allocated towards raw material procurement by companies under the SMEs auction while US$13,8 million was disbursed through the main auction arrangement.

For machinery and equipment acquisition, US$3,4 million was allotted through the SMEs auction while US$4,3 million was allotted through the main auction.

At both the auctions, forex was being allocated to companies for consumables, services (loans, education, dividends, and disinvestments, among others), retail and distribution, fuel, electricity and gas, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, as well as paper and packaging procurement.

At this week’s auction, the SMEs auction received 1 369 bids from which 71 where disqualified while the main auction rejected 39 bids from 559 that were received. – @KazungaOliver