Online Publisher Of USD/RTGS Rates Suspends Service After ‘Threat From Gvt’

Marketwatch is one of the online publishers of how the USD and other currencies are trading against the local currency on Zimbabwe’s diverse markets.

Value of the Zimbabwe Dollar is measured in different ways by different people under different circumstances. The value has been fluctuating so much that the typical person in Zimbabwe will always want to find out how the currency is faring from time to time as they make daily decisions.

Examples of the different rates that different people consider from time to time:

• The Black Market USD:RTGS rate: The most important since most of our money is in mobile wallets and bank accounts
• The Black Market USD:Bond rate: You get a lil more USD if you have bond notes cash but these are are more scarce than USD notes if you ask me
• The Interbank USD:RTGS rate: We just follow this to see how wide the gap is between our reality and the lala land the authorities reside in. We also follow it to estimate how much companies like ZOL will charge us.)
• The Old Mutual Implied Rate OMIR: Well this one is usally close to the black market action, sometimes below, sometimes above. It just tell;s us that the formal economy agrees more with the black market than with the government.

Marketwatch

The complexity of the different exchange rates makes services like Marketwatch (marketwatch.co.zw) quite useful. Marketwatch describes itself as a group of researchers focused on researching Zimbabwe’s parallel markets.

Now, this group of analysts claims that the Government of Zimbabwe has threatened them, accusing them of fueling the black market. Marketwatch claim that they do not influence rates in any way but just report on what will be going on in the different markets.

To prove their point, they have decided to suspend publishing the parallel market rates on their website for two weeks. They believe after two weeks it will be clear to the government and everyone else that they were not influencing the value of money but merely reporting on how the market is valuing local money.

Here’s what they said:

Threats from the Government suggest that Marketwatch has been pushing the parallel market rates, so we will no longer be quoting Rates for the next 2 weeks

After this period we feel we would have proved to the higher powers that we have no control and are simply “Market Watchers”. It all comes down to the people’s confidence in the new Zimbabwean dollar.

Techzim using Marketwatch as a source

Techzim Market uses Marketwatch as a source to help those who want to know the current rates easily via WhatsApp. We are still getting the data from Marketwatch but unfortunately for the next two weeks, the information will have all other rates except the black market rates. If you want to use this service you just send the word, “Rate” to Techzim Market number 0719696102 or click this shortcut link: http://wa.me/263719696102?text=Rate

What Marketwatch thinks about the recent currency changes

Here is what Marketwatch says:

Can what the government is trying to do work? Yes it can. Will it work? We don’t know. With proper fiscal discipline going forward we do believe that confidence can be restored in Zimbabwe and our new Currency!

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