The first small to medium enterprises (SMEs) foreign exchange auction has concluded. This second auction is meant to be inclusive of smaller businesses.
The big auction that is held every Tuesday has a minimum entry of bid US$50 000.00. So as you can imagine there would be a lot of businesses that wouldn’t be able to meet that first hurdle.
The minimum amount that any business or individual can bid on in the SME Auction is US$2 500.00. That figure (which is still pretty steep) lowers the bar significantly from the grand auction.
The results for the auction are as follows:
- Allotted amount US$460 167.99
- The Highest Rate ZWL$85.00
- The Lowest Rate ZWL$75.00
- The Lowest Accepted Rate ZWL$ 75.00
- Total Bids amounted to US$460 167.99
- Number of bids recieved 40
- Number of disqualified bids 7
| Purpose | Amount Allotted |
| Raw Materials | 178,517.91 |
| Machinery and Equipment | 91,447.39 |
| Consumables | 86,309.97 |
| Retail and Distribution | 40,000.00 |
| Services | 23,700.00 |
| Paper and Packaging | 40,192.72 |
| Pharmaceuticals | 0.00 |
| Fuel, Electricity and Gas | 0.00 |
| Total | 460,167.99 |
I was expecting to see a weighted average for this auction but the RBZ said the weighted average for this auction remains on the same level as the Main Auction. They also said that the SMEs Auction will now run at the same time as the Main Auction.
Was this SME Auction a test run?
If this was already in the pipeline, then they might as well have included SMEs on Tuesday. Another question is now with both running concurrently will the weighted average be taken from the figures of both auctions? Or will the Main Auction dictate the rate?
I guess we will have to wait and see on Tuesday…
main auction must dertemine the rate and these SME’s must come to buy only after rate has been determined by the main auction.