ZWL liquidity crunch hits BAT

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BRITISH American Tobacco Zimbabwe (BAT) says its cigarette sales were down 6,7 percent during the year ended December 31, 2022 due to tight liquidity of the Zimbabwe dollar.
It comes as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has lately implemented a tight monetary targeting framework to curb inflation, which analysts say has been driven by money supply growth.
BAT said it sold 1 054 million cigarette sticks in 2022, compared to 1 130 million in 2021.
“This volume drop was driven by a shortage of RTGS in the market, which made it difficult for customers to purchase our products,” chairman Lovemore Manatsa said in a statement accompanying results.