Zimbabwe is to tighten exchange-control regulations as President Robert Mugabe's government battles a cash crunch that has, among other things, affected remittances to foreign investors and shareholders. Banks are now required to process outbound remittances using a special "priority list", and corporate-account activity is to be strictly monitored.Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said on Thursday: "The days of buying trinkets are over as we tighten the rules on foreign exchange."These measures introduced by the central bank are now moving us from an overly liberalised foreign-exchange market to one which is controlled and which gives priorities to what our foreign currency should be used for."story_article_left1Traders on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange said the difficulties investors faced accessing their money had affected trade on the equities market.Turnover on the ZSE tumbled to just $105 (about R1490) on Tuesday as investors grew more concerned about the country's regulatory framework. But by Thursday turnover had risen to $3.1-million.This week, a business executive in Zimbabwe said: "It is difficult and taking longer to remit shareholders' funds outside of Zimbabwe. It is frustrating to shareholders and investors, especially when it comes to dividend payments."Mining companies in Zimbabwe, such as the Zimbabwean units of Anglo Platinum, Impala Platinum, Sibanye Gold and others, are being squeezed to provide funds for the country.The Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe said the mining sector needed "lower power tariffs of about 5¢ per kilowatt hour" so it could bring down "overall costs" and contribute more in taxes.But this week Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa told mining executives: "My boss [Mugabe] said to me: 'I see you are growing a little bit but that growth is not good enough.'"A source in the Zimbabwean financial services sector said Zimbabwe's cash shortages had worsened partly because the government was taking the hard cash and crediting exporters' accounts with balances. This was limiting cash flows in the economy."This has helped the government to raise money, but without raising alarm," said the source.story_article_right2Kato Mukuru, the global head of equity research at Exotix Partners, an investment firm for frontier and illiquid markets, said the level of "hard cash" in Zimbabwe had fallen from $582-million in 2009 to $269-million by April 2016. The central bank has said it will introduce a local bond currency in October this year to ease the cash crunch.Chinamasa admitted that the value of hard cash and of money in the banking system (money which companies and banking stakeholders can transmit and transact electronically) in Zimbabwe was out of kilter, as the hard cash value was much lower.Zimbabwe's government said the country had become a place where companies and individuals could easily get foreign currency cheaply.Companies used weaker currencies to buy goods in other countries, then resold those items in Zimbabwe to earn US dollars. Others were transferring money to Zimbabwe and then withdrawing it inside the country as there were no limits, officials said.The governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, John Mangudya, was not available for comment.Although Farai Masendu, deputy director for exchange control at the central bank, said dividend payments to foreign shareholders "receive priority", sources said last month dividend remittances had become difficult and were taking longer in some instances...