HARARE, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The black market foreign exchange rates of the U.S. dollar tumbled Sunday and Monday on the back of an announcement by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Saturday that the Zimbabwean government would on Monday start drawing down a new 500 million U.S. dollar facility to supply the inter-bank foreign currency market.
RBZ said on Twitter that the funds would meet foreign currency requirements for business and individuals and they would "go a long way to stabilize the exchange rates and prices of goods and services in the economy".
Parallel market rates for the U.S. dollar, which had gone up to as high as 1 U.S. dollar to 6.50 RTGS (local) dollars for electronic transfers and 1 U.S. dollar to 5 RTGS dollars in cash, tumbled to as low as 1 U.S. dollar to 5 RTGS dollars for electronic transfers and 1 U.S. dollar to 4 RTGS dollars in bond notes.
Finance minister Mthuli Ncube said the 500 million U.S. dollar facility had been raised from international banks and would increase the supply of foreign currency for imports.
