For the third straight week, Zimbabwe’s currency – the Zimbabwe dollar – was weaker against the United States dollar, settling at 81.87 following the foreign currency auction yesterday, a 0.07 percent decline from 81.81 previously.

The country’s monetary authorities hold a weekly foreign currency auction, which determines the prevailing rate for that week.

In the latest auction, the highest bid on the main auction was 90 to the US dollar from 88.3 previously, while the lowest accepted bid remained on 80. On the SMEs section of the auction, the highest bid continues to trail that of the main auction at 87 from 86 previously.

The foreign currency auction determined rate is used as the reference rate by all official businesses, although there is still an issue with compliance with some big corporates. The real problem in respect of compliance is the informal sector, which is very extensive in Zimbabwe.

Total bids on the foreign currency auction totalled 467.

The huge firms accounted for most bids at 278, of which 34 had their bids canceled for various reasons.

And there were 189 total bids on the SMEs auction, of which 23 were denied.

Total allocation rose to US$33.3 million, with the main auction accounted for the bulk of allocations at US$31.19 million, and the SMEs segment accounted for US$2.15 million.

Raw materials accounted for the bulk of allotments at US$14.45 million on the main auction and US$565 832 on the SMEs auction, while machinery and equipment came in at US$3.88 million on the main and US$343 514 on the SMEs auction.