Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s central bank’s financial intelligence unit will meet with retailers and manufacturers to address price increases being slapped on consumer goods. The meeting comes against the backdrop of concerns that some firms are drawing funds from the central bank’s weekly foreign exchange auction but pegging prices to black market currency rates. The Zimbabwe dollar officially trades at 391 per USD, but trades between 600 to 800 per USD on the black market. Measures to protect the currency included lifting interest rates to 200%, the world’s highest. The country’s annual inflation surged to 192% in June, a 13-month high.