As the political and economic crisis deepens in Zimbabwe, things are getting tough and unbearable everyday for our relatives and friends back home. This is the time when they need the help of family members and friends in the diaspora. Given the cash shortages at banks in Zimbabwe and the continuous fall in the value of the Zimbabwean dollar, which is the best way to send money to our relatives in Zimbabwe?
There is no doubt this is the waste time to be in Zimbabwe. Things are not right, with the economic and political crisis in the country our relatives now rely on every little help we can give. Things are not easier in the diaspora either, what with the current credit crunch affecting global markets.
So how do you send your money to Zimbabwe and get more value for your money?
We tend to rely mostly on people who transfer money directly into bank accounts in Zimbabwe. Even though they may offer higher exchange rates, the problem is your relatives in Zimbabwe will struggle to withdraw the money from the bank. There are cash shortages in Zimbabwe and even though the maximum daily withdrawal limit was recently increased to $100 billion, this is far less than one(£1) British pound, which is exchanging at about $225 billion to £1. So, you can imagine how long it will take your family to withdraw the money you are sending.
And everyday your Zimbabwean dollars are in the bank, they continue to lose value because of the very high inflation in the country.
Add the costs of travelling to the bank, you can see sending Zimbabwean dollars is not the best option to help your family in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwean dollar is now useless.....in fact most people prefer conducting business in foreign currency. So it makes sense, if you can send hard currency to your family in Zimbabwe. They can change the money to Zimbabwe dollars when ever they want to use it. That way, they are guarded against inflation and the continuous fall of the Zimbabwe dollar.
You can send money to your relatives in Zimbabwe via Western Union and they give your relatives foreign currency. There are also other money transfer agencies who are also giving foreign currency in Zimbabwe. But once again you need to be careful who you deal with to avoid losing your money.
If ever there was a time when people in Zimbabwe needed relatives in the diaspora, it is now.Join the debate on how you are helping your family and friends in Zimbabwe by posting your comments.
Things are falling apart and the wheels are coming of the ever crushing Zimbabwean economy.
Today the Zimbabwe dollar is trading at One British pound(£1) to ZW$126 billion.
The Zimbabwean dollar is becoming increasingly unusable as more and more people now require payment in foreign currency.
The government does not seem to have a clue on how to solve this crisis.
For how long is the situation going to remain like this?
Have your say..........I'm always interested in you contributions feel free to post your comments.
Just a day after I had send money to Zimbabwe at the exchange rate of £1 to $60 000 000.00 Zimbabwean dollars. Yesterday the rate fell to $50 million Zimbabwean dollars to £1. Is it that the Zimbabwean dollars is 'gaining' value against the British pound? Hell NO! it's just the usual ups and downs of the Zimbabwean dollar over the years.
It is very unfortunate that for the past few years there have been no signs of the Zimbabwean dollars gaining against any other major trading currencies. In fact it has been on free fall. The Zimbabwean dollar is currently trading at more than $25 000 000.00 to 1US dollar.
Despite all the efforts by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to control the foreign currency problems in the country. Their efforts don't seem to be enough or helping the current situation.
In case we forget, this is even after the Reserve Bank removed three zeros from the currency last year. So is the Zimbabwean dollar currently trading at $55 Billion dollars to one British pound?
For how long will this situation remain like this?
The exchange rate has risen so high, surely it's bound to fall at some point. Not just the current ups and downs.
But? is the government trying enough, with the right policies to control this forex problem that has reduced the country to a laughing stock.
How do people go about their day to day transactions with such large sums of bank notes? Probably the Reserve Bank may already be working on introducing another higher denomination note to reduce the amount of notes people carry. Even after the introduction of the $10 000 000.00 bank note in January.
It's embarrassing even to mention these figures. But today the Zimbabwean dollar is trading at $55 million to one British pound. Crazy!
Our Zimbabwean Dollar has been on free fall for some months with no signs of recovering. Surely things could not get worse, at least most of us thought. How wrong we were?
Mr Gono the Reserve Bank governor came in with a big reputation and many promises to fix the economic problems. Everybody expected the money problems of the country to be solved. How wrong we were or was it blind faith? Things are even worse than when he came into office.
It's now very easy to be a multimillionaire in Zimbabwe. £1 is now equivalent to $60 million Zimbabwean dollars and 1 US dollar is currently trading at about $25 million Zimbabwean dollars.
What does the future have for Zimbabweans as we approach the elections?
For sometine now we have been getting a good deal from the black market, when sending money to Zimbabwe. Because of the lower government controlled exchange rate, it didn't make sense to send money through the official channels.
Instead we have relied on the black market that offers a higher and more real exchange rate and even faster transfer of your money to Zimbabwe.
However in the past few weeks, Western Union seems to be offering a better option when sending money to Zimbabwe. They offer you the option of receiving money in US dollars. With the way the Zimbabwean dollar is losing value everyday it makes sense to get money in foreign currency in Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe your family can shop around and get better exchange rate for their US dollars.
With Western Union you always know your money is safe. Security guarantee is very important for your hard earned money.
There have been delays in inter bank transfers in Zimbabwe for the past week because of problems with the RTGS system, read more here. Which seems to have affected a lot of people who had already send their money. However if you want to send money I think it's better to send via Western Union because it's even faster, and is not affected by problems with the inter bank transfers.
Your relatives can collect their money in most towns in Zimbabwe.
I'm sure it will not be long before individuals on the black market start offering, US dollars in Zimbabwe. At the moment I haven't seen any reliable ones around. Feel free to contribute if you know any reliable companies or individuals offering a good deal when sending money to Zimbabwe.
