Zimbabwe pegs ZWL$50 for a 10kg bag of mealie meal

Hanganani Nleya

THE Zimbabwe Government has pegged a 10kg bag of mealie meal at ZWL$50 in a move aimed at cushioning consumers.

In a statement released today, Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, said “government will ensure that the requisite monthly tonnage of 40,000 Metric tonnes required for producing 32 000 MT of roller meal will be timely availed by GMB to members of the Grain Millers Association (GMAZ)’’.

There was a dramatic increase in the price of mealie meal recently after Professor Ncube in his 2020 National Budget, said subsidies on roller meal, standard loaves of bread and cooking oil would remain. A 10kg bag of mealie meal had gone up to more than ZWL$100.

But Minister Ncube was moving from the more general subsidy of offering manufacturers cheap foreign exchange, which distorted markets and saw products used by the rich being subsidised as well as those used by most people, to direct subsidies on the most critical products paid to manufacturers.

 “In this regard, the new subsidy model will therefore target the production of roller meal, resulting in the retail price of ZWL$50 for a 10 kg bag”, read the statement.

The implementation of this new subsidy policy is with immediate effect.