National Incomes and Pricing Commission (NIPC) chairman, Godwills Masimirembwa, last week said businesses were informed last week on Friday of the impending shift.
“From November 23 restocking should be on the basis of the official exchange rate,” he said.
NIPC is now responsible for monitoring prices following the dissolution of the Cabinet taskforce on prices, formerly headed by the Minister of Industry and International Trade, Obert Mpofu.
Masimirembwa also indicated that the practice of sourcing foreign currency on the black market and factoring it into the price would no longer be acceptable, saying: “We want to stop this nonsense”. Â
He also said it was the duty of companies to generate foreign currency rather than expect handouts from the central bank, adding that prices should not be indexed using the parallel market rate regardless of the source of foreign currency. Â
Imported products with local equivalents would be priced at par, whilst imports without local equivalents would attract a 50% mark-up, albeit based on the gazetted rate.
“In respect of manufacturers who are exporters and acquit earnings with the Reserve Bank, we will adopt opportunity cost in the model, using an investment window as a basis for costing. Instead of using 30% we shall use an opportunity cost window that translates to 270%.” Â
Post published in: Economy