	zambia to retain currency auction says kaunda zambia will retain its foreign exchange auction system despite the suspension of weekly auctions since january president kenneth kaunda said we have not run away from the auction it hasn t been abolished at all he told reuters in an interview he said the system would be reintroduced after current talks with the world bank and the international monetary fund and he hoped would be backed by fresh foreign aid funds kaunda dismissed central bank statements the new auction system would be used to allocate foreign exchange to private bidders but not to fix the exchange rate kaunda said the auction system had faltered because of the government s shortage of foreign exchange to meet demand it was suspended when the kwacha s rapid devaluation and strong fluctuations made economic planning almost impossible for the government and the private sector he said weekly foreign exchange auctions began in october the kwacha fell from to the dollar to about in months in january the government was more than two months in arrears in paying foreign currency to successful bidders and the auction was suspended and replaced with a fixed exchange rate of nine kwacha to the dollar reuter 
