Omega Ukama 
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says foreign dividend remittances out of the country were up by 213 percent to US$209,7 million during the six months to June 2021, compared to the same period last year.
It comes as the apex bank’s weekly currency auctions have improved foreign exchange availability.
Foreign investors had previously struggled to repatriate dividends and disinvestments due to foreign currency shortages, with the situation only being rescued by the introduction of the auction system last June.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, John Mangudya
Numbers published last week alongside RBZ governor John Mangudya’s mid-term monetary policy statement showed that dividend payments constituted seven percent of the country’s US$2,95 billion foreign payments during the first half of 2021, compared to three percent during the same period last year.
The country’s total foreign payments were up by 46 percent during the period from US$2,03 billion reported for the prior comparable period.
Mangudya said the auction system has had a significant impact on the national economy, adding that it has to date disbursed US$1,72 billion and has ensured uninterrupted financing of importation of key raw materials and equipment for the productive sectors of the economy.
“Capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector has, as a result, increased from 36 percent in 2019 to 47 percent in 2020 and is expected to further increase to above 61 percent in 2021,” he said.
The improved availability in foreign exchange since last June has also resulted in a surge in foreign sell-offs on the country’s main bourse, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
Meanwhile, the central bank and the public debt management office in the Finance ministry are finalising a Blocked Funds Bill for the settlement by government of around US$2,8 billion foreign exchange liabilities contracted by Zimbabwean entities prior to the change of currency in February 2019, which could not be remitted due to foreign currency shortages.
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