Over the past two weeks the Bond/USD rate has spiked from around fifty-something percent to over a 100% and the shops are beginning to react. This most recent spike places sellers between a rock and a hard place because they have to price their goods accordingly and these prices may not look appealing to buyers.
With some retailers selling 16Gb Micro SD Cards for as high as $28 the usual reaction is to cry foul and claim that “we’re being ripped off” but this is not necessarily the case.Once you consider the fact that shops are buying stock using foreign and having to sell it in bond notes one can see why the prices are what they are. Shops also have to factor in taxes and then the markup before they reach a final retail price, which is why we are purchasing these things at a premium.
Another interesting development that has come about due to the fluctuating rates is the fact that some shops are now labelling their quotations as valid “for 24 hours”. This may mean that if you walk into a certain shop today and see a price but you are going to make the purchase in a day or two, the final price may be different from the one you initially saw.
The finance minister’s first misstep?
It seems our Finance Minister may have caused a panic when he declared that the bond notes are being phased out. Though initially, this was just talk he followed that up by declaring the three solutions he had that were going to solve the issues of the bond notes and by then it seemed the days of the bond notes were numbered.
Now if you had bond notes and you were hearing these declarations you may have thought to yourself, “why not just start changing these notes to forex and not be caught out when the transition from bonds to whatever Ncube decides we are using occurs.” It seems this has been the default approach for many and thus the rates have gone wild.
Damage control
The President came out a few days ago and hit a u-turn declaring that the bond notes were actually here to stay in a bid to sweep up the mess we now find ourselves in but it seems the damage has been done and confident in the bond notes has decreased once again.
I’m not entirely sure if Mthuli Ncube’s statements last week were a bid to show that there would be transparency or whether he truly believed in doing away with the bond notes ASAP but it seems those comments have come back to bite the entire nation…
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18 comments
dont miss quote the minister, his point is, until there is a plan to phase the Bond out it remains legal tender. it is this sort of reporting that furthers speculation. This whole article serves nothing more than to fuel speculation. I am sure it brings the readers in (where your money comes from) but really does no one any good.
sad day for avid but reasonable techzim follower.
Well, that may have been his point but that’s not how the public perceived and if it was as obvious a point as you think, the President wouldn’t have had to come out make a statement declaring that the Bond Notes are here to stay…
This article may cause a lot of speculation. Not want we want now is it?
So news is no longer published if it may have negative consequences?
No need to blame each other here, The law of expectation will always work. Worse still when key public figures make pronouncements that way. “Erikson’s law of expectation has it that 85% of what you expect to happen, will.” Sadly, it almost always comes true and any rational person will act in tandem with what they expect. No wonder politicians are always out of sync with reality because no matter how good their oration maybe, they cannot control the rational behaviour of citizens. They can only react and often when it’s already too late.
That’s another side of the coin that’s quite interesting. I definitely agree that fingers should not solely be pointed at Ministers
I think the article is poorly written, only bent to cause panic…for your own information, i only opened it in panic mode. where i live, i haven’t heard or seen any prices quoted as valid for 24 hours. Articles like these are responsible for current price hikes without much to support them. You sound exactly the same as the exuberant Mthulisi Ncube who just wakes up and makes statements without thinking of the consequences. If anything you are trying to justify and or encourage the quoting of prices for 24 hours. What is your motive.
You haven’t seen any prices quoted at 24 hours because the “certain shops” mentioned in the title are fortunately not where you live. Asking us not to report this because “it will cause panic” is like asking everyone who reported on the August 1 shootings not to do so because that would anger the international community and scupper the little chances of securing funds that Zim has.
Oh and you mention “articles like these”… can you please send me any other article you’ve come across on the internet that is more impactful than the words of the current finance minister. would love to read that
The article is bad whichever way you want to defend it. It is pathetic to say the least. You come back here gun slinging thinking that it will redeem the poor article. You are a joke bro
Not entirely sure how I should respond when things get personal like this but I do stand by my view.
Its simple, dont defend your articles, you cant be your own judge & witness. If you want to write then you should accept the criticism. better to write and then just shut up !!
people that cannot take criticism should rather shut up, full stop. !! Stop acting like a kid !! or maybe you are still a kid that needs to grow up a bit ?!
The BOND is not in the 100s and has never even crosses 80 – that’s the TRANSFER rate – which at the time of writing this is at around 95. You took what the BOND rate was two weeks ago (50s) and then took what the TRANSFER RATE is now to try and make the hike even more extreme than it is – but you know very well that these are two different rates. Please have some professionalism about your work – this is truly a pathetic effort.
I think whether we like it or not the Honorable Minister’s comments ended up causing panic. Of which i don’t think he foresaw the possible repercussions of his statement when he made it. Maybe this should encourage everyone in key positions of influence to carefully consider they views before making them public.
It is not unusual for a quote to have an expiration date. Even brick & mortar stores do that in a good economy. This is a poorly written, speculative article and it’s way below the standard that we have come to expect from you guys.
fusertech qoutes have always been valid for 24 hrs kubva kare kaare nothing new here
All these comments beg the point! The point is what does the Government do now? This state of affairs left in abeyance will cause empty shelves. We all know this, but lets have some suggestions on how to cure this self inflicted illness.
The Government was warned and they took no heed. This state of affairs is obviously lining some peoples pockets to such an extent that very little is going to be done about it, in spite of all the promises and counter promises.
My answer is: – remove bond notes and plastic money and force people to spend their (under the mattress US dollars) or starve.
They won’t starve, the net result will be that like in 2009 US dollars became plentiful almost over night. People have to live.
Unfortunately this obvious cure will not be done whilst people meekly accept the use of these ridiculous bond notes.
Maurice.