Zimbabwean gold-miner, RioZim, has reportedly suspended production for the second time in four months due to critical shortages of foriegn exchange in the Southern African Country,
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has lately also failed to pay Zimbabwe’s second largest gold mining firm in United States Dollars for part of its deliveries.
The dollar shortage has since driven up the price of basic goods that contributed to the recent anti-government protests that mainly hit Harare and Bulawayo cities, killing 12 people and injuring many more.
Last week the Zimbabwean government said the central bank would soon introduce a monetary policy tool to ease the forex shortages.
Zimbabwean gold producers sell their production to the bank’s subsidiaries that are supposed to be paid 55 percent of their miner’s earnings in US Dollars, and the remainder goes to the bank accounts through electronic transfers in dollars.