Zimbabwe has scrapped a scheme allowing fuel purchases with foreign currency, removing one of the few remaining ways for people to acquire petrol in a country struggling with a crumbling economy.
The facility is also used by foreign diplomats and officials working for international aid organisations, and the move, along with the government's hostile reaction to a new offer of U.S. food aid, underlined President Robert Mugabe's hardline stance.
Zimbabwe has experienced several years of acute fuel shortages as an economic crisis many blame on Mugabe's government has left the country with no foreign currency reserves and the highest inflation rate in the world.
Three weeks ago, Mugabe ordered a blitz to slash prices by half after the cost of some basic foodstuffs rose three-fold within a week, saying businesses were doing this as part of a Western-sponsored plot to oust his government.
The price freeze has sparked a wave of panic buying that has emptied Zimbabwean shops of basic commodities, and critics say the formal economy is tottering on the brink of total collapse.
In a statement broadcast by state media on Thursday, a committee enforcing the price cuts said the government had banned foreign currency coupons allowing people to get scarce fuel from private oil companies or individual importers.
"The Task Force is giving all coupon holders two weeks from today, within which to acquit their coupons. No new fuel coupon sales should be made forthwith," it said.
No reasons were given for the move, and both government and private oil companies were not immediately available for comment. In the past the government has accused fuel coupon holders of selling fuel on the black market at highly inflated prices.
