THE battle between parallel market dealers and the banking sector for the little foreign currency in the country intensified this week as exchange rates galloped ahead.

THE official foreign currency market burst into life this week as Zimbabweans trooped to banks and money transfer agencies (MTAs) to offload their hard currencies, rocking the once-thriving parallel market, the major beneficiary of the country's currency crisis.

IN last week's monetary policy statement (MPS), the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), Gideon Gono very courageously sought once again to address the devastatingly negative consequences of foreign currency shortages.

ZIMBABWE'S beleaguered currency slumped to a historic low on the official market as rates began moving after the central bank let up on controls to encourage the inflow of hard currency into the inter-bank market.

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, RBZ, says the public should exercise caution when undertaking unofficial foreign currency dealings.

Thousands of Zimbabweans are camping in queues outside banks while trying to withdraw their own, hard earned money.

CENTRAL bank governor Gideon Gono's thrust to float the exchange rate is a step in the right direction but analysts warn of the need for the authorities to respond "timeously" to concerns raised by stakeholders.

HIKED petrol price or not, more motorists headed for the coast over the recent long-weekend than at Easter when the oil price was 13% lower.

Trading at the forex market was quiet throughout the week characterised by low dollar demand.

ZIMBABWE'S battered currency was yesterday thrust into the open market in a major policy shift that could significantly improve inflows into the inter-bank market and grind down the parallel foreign currency market largely blamed for the country's economic turbulence.

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor, Gideon Gono, this week relaxed foreign exchange regulations to allow the market to determine the rate.

The Central Bank Governor presented the 2008 First Quarter Monetary Policy Statement yesterday and introduced a number of policy measures, chief among them, some foreign currency reforms.

ZIMBABWE'S import cover remains precarious, with the country's foreign currency holdings covering an average of 0,1 months for much of last year, according to statistics obtained by The Financial Gazette.

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has liberalised the foreign currency market by introducing an interbank trading system that will result in exchange rates being determined by the forces of supply and demand to encourage inflows into the formal market.

THE huge liberalisation and simplification of the foreign currency markets announced yesterday, and the effective creation of a single market-driven exchange rate for almost all commercial transactions, remove at a stroke many business constraints and end many of the damaging business distortions.

Controller of the Ilorin branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Onoriode Olotewo has said any person caught selling Nigerian currency or mutilating it will be liable to six months imprisonment .

As the dollar continues to slide, questions are being raised over what may have caused this and what can be done to deal with it.

Foreign exchange dealers manning treasury departments of leading banks are taking home hefty bonuses following an unusually active first quarter for currency traders.

THE rand held its ground yesterday, clinging to nine-month lows against the dollar as the oil price stayed high and interest rate changes were expected.

The Kenya shilling could strengthen further against the dollar following the closure of the Safaricom initial public offering, buoyed by the delivery versus payment (DVP) system for large and foreign investors.

The greenback clawed some gains against the euro as investors felt more confident about the outlook of the US financial sector and after euro zone officials stated that the recent appreciation of the European single currency was undesirable.