INDUSTRIES have slammed the government for delaying the lifting of Old Mutual Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE). The suspension, which also affected seed technology outfit SeedCo International and cement production giant PPC, was imposed after authorities blamed the firms, which had fungible stocks, for inflaming the depreciation of the Zimbabwe dollar in 2020.
At about the same time, mobile money transfer platforms were briefly disrupted on similar allegations, before being allowed to resume operations under tight controls and transactions limits.
Research firms have argued that the suspension of the stock remains a case of trapped investment in the absence of its permission to trade. In its submission to the government recently, Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) urged the authorities to lift the suspension.
“Lift the suspension of Old Mutual Zimbabwe from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. The reasons for the fund’s suspension from the local currency bourse are still obtaining, signalling that the fund was not the problem,” ZNCC said.
SeedCo International agreed to the government’s request for the firms to migrate to Victoria Falls Stock Exchange, which began trading in October 2020.
The fungible counters faced a litany of accusations from the ruling Zanu PF, which accused them of abating a long running economic crisis through the stock exchange.
The suspension triggered valuation problems, which ended with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe allowing market intermediaries to use closing prices on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange at the prevailing official auction exchange rates for valuation purposes.
In 2021, Research firm Econometer Global Capital said the suspension of Old Mutual was unjustified.
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“Generally speaking, it's a step in the right direction, but the whole fight should be on seeing to it that the stocks are allowed to trade like any other counter. This argument of treating them as culprits in the whole currency bating, is something which is not justified,” it said.
