LUSAKA: Zambia scrapped on Friday restrictions on the use of dollars and other foreign currencies as it tried to halt the slide in its currency, which has lost nearly a fifth of its value in recent months.
"The continuous falling of the kwacha is of concern to us," Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda said at a news conference announcing the immediate revocation of the foreign exchange restrictions.
After having held steady around 5.50 to the US dollar for several months, the kwacha began to slide again last month and hit 6.50 to the dollar in recent days. Following the announcement it recovered to 6.15 to the dollar.
The slide in the value in the kwacha by over 18 percent in the past half year touched off an inflationary price spiral, and combined with a drop in the price of its key export commodity copper, has made servicing the foreign debt more costly for the government.
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