One product per person for Zim shoppers as panic buying grips nation

By Wallace Mawire Zimbabwe's major supermarkets and retail shops have started to ration products following unexpected price hikes which have seen prices of major commodities going up exorbitantly. Only recently, major fuel retailers were battling to cope with supply of fuel mainly petrol and diesel resulting in long queues and hoarding.However, as of yesterday even in the city of Harare long vehicle queues could be seen at most fuel stations indicating that they had been some injection of fuel to the suppliers. As of yesterday major supermarkets in the capital Harare such as OK supermarket registered long queues with customers in panic buying mode. However, it is still not clear what has triggered the price hikes since fuel prices are still maintained at the same prices. Some small retail shops have also started to peg their prices in the US dollar currency.Most of the shops have of late been using the bond note which had been pegged at the same rate with the US dollar.However, the bond note is beginning to lose value by day due to day to day speculative black market rates. Zimbabwe's major hurdle has been to contain a thriving black market where prudent financial fundamentals are a pie in the sky. l have just today been to Food World supermarket, one of the major retail shops in the CBD of Harare wanting to buy a bottle of drink and have been told that l am allowed just top buy one such product. One young shopper in the CBD of Harare just told me here that he was only allowed to buy one bottle of water due to the rationing of products reportedly meant to minimise panic buying and hoarding.Some of the buyers are reported to buy the commodities in bulk from the major supermarkets then resale them at their verandas.But this development was partially minimised when vendors were ordered to vacate the CBD due to cholera. This is coming amid reports that during the past few days shoppers, especially in Harare were in panic buying mood grabbing most of the basic commodities in anticipation of sporadic price increases. However, government seems to be troubled by the price hikes development and as of yesterday, Vice-President kembo Mohadi warned retailers hiking prices unnecessarily that their licences would be revoked.There have been unconfirmed reports that there might be elements of sabotaging the economy by unspecified elements. According to the Herald newspaper, government has directed that prices of basic commodities increased without justification be reduced immediately, as it moves to restore sanity on the market. Retailers are hiking prices of basic commodities daily, triggering panic that has led to artificial shortages. Further, the government directed that no businesses should reject bond notes and other electronic payments when transacting. With regards to the proposed two cents tax per dollar, the government said there was no need for the public to panic as this was yet to be implemented and still being fine-tuned. it is reported that those who defy the directives would face drastic action and with regards to those in the fuel sector, they risk revocation of their licences. It is reported that the two cents per dollar tax that was announced by Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube on monday will apply to transactions of $10 and above only and will be capped at $10 000 for transactions of above $500 000.