Exchange Control (Cotton Finance) (Amendment) Order, 2026 (No.1)

The Exchange Control (Cotton Finance) Order, 2008 has been reworked to drop its offshore-only financing premise. Seed cotton merchants may now access both offshore and onshore funds to buy seed cotton, and the order says expressly that they may use their own savings of any kind, or borrow or raise funds on the local market, to finance production and the buyback of seed cotton.

The pricing rule is also restated: the purchase price of seed cotton is denominated in United States dollars, and the settlement ratio between foreign currency and Zimbabwean currency is whatever the Reserve Bank determines from time to time. That leaves growers with a USD-denominated price but a currency mix set administratively rather than by the order.

Where a merchant finances a grower, the amount advanced may be set off against the price of the seed cotton the grower later sells to that merchant — putting contract financing and payment on the same footing.

Supporting changes follow from the same shift: the definitions of "interbank market" and "Memorandum of Deposit Scheme" are repealed, the word "offshore" is deleted from section 8 and from Form EC Cot 1, and section 9's second subsection on returns is deleted. Form EC Cot 2 is replaced with a simpler weekly cotton buying return giving the merchant's name, the period, and for each farmer the kilograms and US dollar value of seed cotton purchased.