This is the reason given by an airline that suspends next Tuesday, service between Lusaka and its hub.
“We regret to have to announce that due to the current situation in Zimbabwe and the difficulties related to the repatriation of funds from Zimbabwe, we are temporarily suspending our Lusaka / Harare link from January 29 to March 1”, says the company Proflight Zambia in a statement released on January 24. “All passengers will be fully reimbursed for tickets purchased for travel during this period,” said Philip Lemba, director of government and industry affairs for the Zambian airline.
Launched only in July 2018, the Lusaka-Harare line connects the two cities four days a week. The flights were insured by Jetstream 41.
The Rwandan company Rwandair also suspended the sale of airline tickets in Zimbabwe in local currency (Zimbabwean dollar) while the latter is experiencing a continuous devaluation.
According to figures published in June 2018 by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the country holds $ 76 million in blocked funds, joining Venezuela, Angola, Sudan and Bangladesh.
It is in this context that the government confirmed this month its intention to reintroduce the Zimbabwean dollar by the end of the year to meet the scarcity of the US dollar, which has been strangling the economy since the inflationary years. Indeed, the country had the greenback trade currency added to the British Pound and the South African Rand following a hyperinflation that had made its currency unusable.
