Zim auction firm resorts to barter trade

The move was apparently designed to avoid a potential breach of the country's laws, which prohibit trade using foreign currency to avoid the embattled domestic currency.

Zimbabwe's acting attorney general, Bharat Patel, recently warned Zimbabweans against conducting business in foreign currency as the business sector began shunning the beleaguered domestic currency, opting for United States dollars.

An official, who declined to give the number of vehicles likely to go under the hammer because they were still expecting more deliveries, said buyers will be only bid for vehicles using fuel coupons. No cash, cheques or real time gross settlement (RTGS) payments will be accepted during the auction, expected to run on Friday August 8, 2008, he said.

Fuel coupons are sold in US dollars under a system supervised by the government-owned National Oil Company of Zimbabwe, and the domestic value tracks the black market rate of the Zimbabwe dollar against the US dollar.

Vehicle sellers will be paid for their vehicles using the fuel coupons.
It was not immediately clear how they would redeem them for cash, but fuel coupons sell very quickly on a thriving black market.