Local beers and soft drinks are among some of the products that have disappeared from supermarkets’ shelves thereby depriving embattled Zimbabweans of the things they had become accustomed to during the festive
holidays.

A survey by the Daily News over the weekend revealed that most retail outlets have run out of local beer brands and soft drinks, particularly
those manufactured by the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed Delta Corporation.Where one finds local beverages, the cost would
have gone up from the recommended retail price.

In most shops, shelves are filled to the brim by imported substitutes that cost an arm and leg.Some of the imported beers are actually being
sold in foreign currency as confirmed the Zimbabwe Retailers Association (ZRA) yesterday.Several other basic products, among them the standard loaf of bread, are also hard to come-by.

Government confirmed the shortages yesterday but said it is determined to bring cheer to long-
suffering Zimbabweans.Nick Mangwana, the permanent secretary in the ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, told the Daily News yesterday that government — through the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) — has disbursed foreign currency to the beverage companies and is in the process of releasing more hard currency for the procurement of their inputs.Daily News