Zimbabwe’s biggest beverages manufacturer, Delta Beverages, on Wednesday revealed it would start selling its products in United States Dollars from Friday.
In a statement made available to iHarare, the organisation said, it arrived at the decision due to the economic challenges of the country, which had made it difficult to access forex, resulting in a slump in its supply of alcoholic products and the prolonged unavailability of soft drinks.
Part of the statement read, “Our business has been adversely affected by the prevailing shortages of foreign currency, resulting in the company failing to meet your orders and in the case of soft drinks, being out of stock for prolonged periods.
“The new fiscal and monetary policy framework in place since October 2018, does not provide for easy access to foreign currency by non-exporters. The company has only received limited foreign currency allocations from the banking channels, which have not been adequate to fund the import requirements. Resultantly all our foreign suppliers are unable to continue providing credit or meet new orders as some of them have not been paid for extended periods.
“In order to sustain its operations, the company advises the retail and wholesale customers that its products will be charged in hard currency with effect from Friday 4th January 2019.”
Zimbabwe has been dealing with economic challenges since the last quarter of 2018. Most government employees are demanding to be paid in foreign currency, as their local currency simply has no more value.