DORTMUND, Germany — Niclas Füllkrug scored and Borussia Dortmund earned a 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal on Wednesday.

Dortmund defender Nico Schlotterbeck sent a long pass over the top for Füllkrug to control brilliantly with his first touch before firing it past PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma with his next in the 36th minute.

“It’s not the first time that I’ve tried to stick the ball in at the near post this season. This time it worked out and I’m even happier that it’s in such an important game,” Füllkrug said.

The win gives Dortmund a narrow advantage before the teams play again in the second leg in Paris next Tuesday, when the French champion will need to overturn the result if it’s going to capture Europe’s biggest prize before Kylian Mbappé leaves the club.

PSG is under pressure to finally win to the Champions League to justify more than a decade of huge investment from its Qatari owners.

Dortmund’s win ensured it qualified for the tournament next season and it gives the Bundesliga five teams in the expanded tournament. Dortmund is assured of finishing at least fifth.

Roared on by most of the 81,365 fans present, including the famed “yellow wall” behind one of the goals, Dortmund made the busier start and maintained its intensity for the whole game. The home team ran 119.7 kilometers — almost 10 more than the visitors.

Defender Lucas Hernández went off injured after trying to stop Füllkrug from scoring. It looked like Hernández suffered a left leg injury.

PSG pushed hardest early in the second half, when Mbappé hit the right post before Achraf Hakimi struck the left post.

Gregor Kobel saved Mbappé’s next effort and Dortmund survived the pressure.

Füllkrug went on to miss further good chances for the German team, while Marquinhos made a crucial block to deny Julian Brandt late on.

“It would have been nice if we could have made our counterattacks count to get a second goal at the end,” Dortmund veteran Mats Hummels said. “But now we have to come through in Paris.”

The visitors missed chances, too.

Ousmane Dembelé should have scored on his return to Dortmund when he blazed a shot over late, then Vitinha flashed a shot wide of the left post.

“We tried to keep the ball from them but it’s so difficult because they have a lot of quality,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said. “They are a great team on the ball and off the ball. Today in that environment they were great in both aspects of the game. I think we had maybe a lack of intensity in the first half, but in the second half we created clear, clear chances. But we couldn’t score.”

Dortmund coach Edin Terzić only made his first substitution in the 83rd, when he sent on veteran Marco Reus for the exhausted Karim Adeyemi.

The winner of the two-leg tie will play either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the final in London on June 1. The old rivals drew 2-2 in their semifinal first leg in Munich on Tuesday.

Source: AP

Zimbabweans should embrace the newly introduced local currency, the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) to ensure the country does not become a supermarket of the region.

This comes as the operationalisation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) gathers momentum.

The US dollar is in the basket of currencies used in Zimbabwe as part of the multi-currency system.

As it stands the use of US dollar dominates local transactions and according to the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), Dr John Mushayavanhu, by end of 2023, over 75 percent of local transactions were being conducted in US dollars.

It is, however, feared that the dominance of the US dollar in the local market will attract more regional imports when the AfCFTA is operationalised, rendering Zimbabwe a supermarket for products from the region and beyond.

It is highly anticipated that the use of US dollar will attract more competition locally, given the competitiveness of some regionally sourced goods.

Already history has it that when the country dollarised during the inclusive Government over a decade ago, the country become a dumping ground of old automobiles, ICT materials and some home appliances among other goods, with regional and international traders taking Zimbabwe as a cheap source of US dollars.

Zimbabwe’s production costs have lately been exorbitant, influenced by multiple factors such as high production costs stemming from myriad of factors including high cost of capital, turbulent macroeconomic environment, unavailability and higher electricity prices.

However, the success of the recently introduced ZiG among other intervention measures by the Government, will undoubtedly enhance the local industry’s competitiveness compared to regional peers.

The introduction of the ZiG, a structured currency backed by gold and other precious metals, is expected to be an impetus to the stabilisation of the local economy going forward.

Speaking during the AfCFTA Tariff Offer dissemination workshop convened by the Competition and Tariff Commission (CTC) and Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) on Tuesday, economist Dr Reneth Mano, said embracing the local currency would go a long way in improving the local industry’s competitiveness in face of potential cut-throat competition to be caused by the AfCFTA.

“We should be confident in our local currency, because its survival means our survival. If ZiG does not work, our industry also will not survive. The continued use of the US dollar will make us a supermarket economy as soon as this AfCFTA comes into effect.

“Making ZiG work should be the consensus or rallying point if we are serious about making wins in the AfCFTA environment. We should try to deal with our macroeconomic environment and address the difficulties in doing business,” said Dr Mano.

Government has since maintained a tough stance against illegal foreign currency traders and stewards of arbitrage that have been perpetuating a rapid free fall of the local currency before.

According to a survey by CTC, 50 percent of the large companies are not yet ready to compete in the AfCFTA given an albatross around their operations which leaves them with higher priced goods.

Mr Tawanda Katsande of CTC, implored local companies to pull up their socks and produce quality and competitively properly priced goods so that locals do not end up preferring foreign cheap substitutes.

He called upon relevant authorities and the private sector to ensure a workable macroeconomic environment that lessens the cost of doing production locally, particularly some issues to do with availability and affordability of electricity.

“There is going to be increased competition in Zimbabwe because of the US dollar, we are now reluctant about the US dollar while other countries are hungry for it , goods are going to come here even at lower cost so that they access the greenback,” said Mr Katsande.

To be competitive, Mr Katsande said local companies should keep in touch with new technologies for efficient production processes that lessen cost of production.

He said some of the derelict equipment still being used in industry consume a lot of electricity, while there are now alternatives that use lesser and cheaper electricity.

CZI chief economist, Dr Cornelius Dube, said doing business in Zimbabwe is not easy and the macroeconomic environment needed to sorted for local industry to be competitive.

“Cost per unit for our local companies is actually higher compared to regional peers because here someone is using inferior type of technology, capital costs are high.

“About 18 percent of total overheads are just compliance costs. The regulators try to collect as much as they can from the business,” said Dr Dube.

The Competition and Tariff Commission in collaboration with CZI has been conducting awareness workshops on Zimbabwe’s preparedness in terms of the implementation of AfCFTA mainly focusing on tariff offer. – Herald

The market has been generally stable since the announcement of the 2024 Monetary Policy Statement by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mushayavanhu, which introduced the new ZiG currency and is expected to ensure lasting stability, certainty and predictability in the exchange rate and inflation.

In a statement yesterday after a follow-up meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) last Friday, Dr Mushayavanhu said the committee deliberated on the recent macroeconomic and financial developments following the announcement of the monetary policy statement on April 5.

One of the major policies brought by the statement was the introduction of the new ZiG (local currency), backed by gold, other precious minerals and foreign currency reserves.

Dr Mushayavanhu said the MPC noted that the monetary policy statement was “well received by the market”.

“Preliminary indications since the announcement of the MPS show that the markets have been fairly stable,” he said.

“In this regard, the MPC affirmed its commitment to the consolidation of these positive sentiments and ensure a quick restoration of confidence, trust and anchoring of inflation expectations.

Dr Mushayavanhu said considering the initial positive reaction from the market, the MPC has resolved to maintain the current bank policy rate at 20 percent a year and an interest rate corridor of 11 percent to 25 percent to maintain the statutory reserve requirements for demand deposits, with savings in ZiG at 15 percent and time deposits at 5 percent, respectively.

Further, the MPC resolved to maintain the statutory reserve requirements for demand deposits and savings and time deposits in foreign currency at 20 percent and 5 percent respectively.

Dr Mushayavanhu said the MPC will proactively review the monetary policy measures in line with the exchange rate and inflation developments.

He said to support the tight monetary policy stance, the MPC emphasised the need for the Reserve Bank to continue to work closely with the Government for a robust liquidity management system through the joint Liquidity Management Committee to contain money supply growth to the desired levels determined by targeted inflation, growth of the economy and increase in foreign reserves backing the ZiG currency.

This cooperation would ensure the creation of effective demand for the domestic currency through strict adherence to the multicurrency system by all in the economy, consistent with the multicurrency system except for exempted services.

The RBZ would work closely with the Government to encourage the increased use of ZiG for payment of goods and services to public entities, including the settling of tax obligations on quarterly payments dates.

Added Dr Mushayavanhu: “The MPC also directed the Reserve Bank to ensure that there is effective communication on the new structured currency, ZiG, to cover the whole country to ensure that there is financial inclusion.

“The Reserve Bank was also directed to ensure that, at all times, any growth in reserve money is fully covered by reserves, in the form of gold, other precious minerals and foreign currency balances in the Reserve Bank’s nostro account.”

Overall, the MPC affirmed its strong commitment to fully implement the new monetary policy measures.

Source: Herald