	zambian exchange auction to resume at end of march zambia will reintroduce a modified foreign exchange auction at the end of this month as part of a new two tier exchange rate central bank governor leonard chivuno said chivuno told a press conference at the end of three weeks of negotiations with the international monetary fund imf that there would be a fixed exchange rate for official transactions and a fluctuating rate decided by the auction for other types of business the bank of zambia previously held weekly auctions to distribute foreign exchange to the private sector and determine the kwacha s exchange rate but these were suspended at the end of january president kenneth kaunda said at the time that he was suspending the auction system in view of the rapid devaluation and violent fluctations of the exchange rate which had resulted business and banking sources said another reason for suspending the auction was that the central bank was low on foreign exchange and was weeks behind in paying successful bidders the kwacha stood at per dollar when the auction system was first introduced in october but it slid to around per dollar by the time it was suspended months later since then zambia has operated a fixed exchange rate of about nine kwacha per dollar reuter 
