The Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) has said demand within the sector has fallen by 30%, during a time when authorities are reducing the supply of the Zimbabwean Dollar and hiking interest rates to curtail inflation.

CZR President, Denford Mutashu stated the sector was struggling under the downside pressures of reforms. Taking into account the hyperinflationary environment, rising cost of living and parallel market exchange rate instability, Mutashu added that the negative effect of initiatives has hit the sector hard, New Zimbabwe reports. 

“We now have a situation where there is semblance of stability. We have seen prices of basic commodities climbing down and we also saw stabilisation of the exchange rate, near convergence of the official and parallel market exchange rate so we believe that near stability is something very positive in the economy and very positive to the consumers,” he stated.

“Due to the decline of Zim$ sales the majority of people buying in formal supermarkets are the employed class and they normally earn local currency in Zim$. What we are seeing now is a very difficult situation.

“Despite the stability that we see, aggregate demand has gone down, especially on basic commodities going down by an average of 30% or more. It’s quite huge even though general revenue generation capacity has also declined,” the CZR President went on to say.

The head of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers added that even though the measures can likely boost U.S. Dollar sales, the rise in unregistered sellers who opt for cheaper products, has weakened the sector’s prospects.

“It’s quite huge even though general revenue generation capacity has also declined. What we see even the uptake of goods from the suppliers has also gone down,” he added.