Zimbabwe’s market regulator is seeking clarity from the central bank on new rules that require companies to report results in the local currency, forcing them to adopt hyperinflationary accounting and increasing the cost of doing business.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is “engaged” with the relevant authorities on the way forward, Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Chief Executive Officer Justin Bgoni said Monday. 

Governor John Mushayavanhu earlier this month ordered companies listed on the exchange to adopt the ZiG, short for Zimbabwe Gold, for reporting purposes with “immediate effect,” including for the 2024 audited financial statements. 

The ZiG is used in 30% of all transactions in the economy with the rest in US dollars.

The exchange has since 2023 allowed companies to report results in dollars, with firms including beverage manufacturer Delta Corp Ltd. switching. 

The nation last used this type of accounting when the Zimbabwean dollar was still legal tender. Consultancy KPMG said signs of hyperinflationary economies include a preference by the population to hold a stable foreign currency to preserve value. 

A supermarket till operator displays a 10 ZiG banknote and 5 Zig coin

ZSE-listed FBC Holdings Ltd. warned the move could introduce “accounting complexities, inflation translation risks, investor concerns and regulatory challenges,” the Harare-based lender said in a recent client note.

It will also require companies to adjust accounting software, financial models and auditing procedures and “the application of IAS 29 — financial reporting in hyperinflationary economies — guidelines, leading to frequent revaluations,” it said.

The ZiG is the nation’s sixth attempt at a functioning local currency since 2009. It has shed 95% of its value since its debut, amid exchange-rate volatility that forced authorities to devalue the currency in September.

The southern African nation’s difficult operating environment recently led to the exit of global accounting firms Deloitte LLP and PwC LLP.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and congressional leaders will begin meeting weekly as Republicans look to shape a tax cut package with a year-end deadline, according to people familiar with the matter.

The meetings, which will start this week, will include key Republican leaders, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and Senator Mike Crapo and Representative Jason Smith, who chair the tax committees in each chamber. The people shared the details of the meetings on the condition of anonymity to discuss a matter which isn’t public.

The planned confabs are a sign that Republicans are getting serious about negotiating the contours of a tax deal, even as the House and Senate are pursuing separate legislative strategies. Politico first reported the planned discussions.

The impasse on the legislative process has spurred divisions among Republicans and has slowed down talks to advance their priorities. The disagreement could be a harbinger of a deeper rift as lawmakers pass large-scale policies through tight majorities in the House and Senate.

The House has started the process to approve a massive, singular $4.5 trillion bill that also includes energy and immigration measures and raises the debt ceiling. The Senate is pursuing plans to pass a border security bill in the coming months, leaving the tax negotiations until later in the year.

The House will vote as soon as Tuesday on a budget outline requiring $2 trillion in spending cuts in exchange for the tax cuts.

Republicans have until the end of the year to renew expiring portions of President Donald Trump’s first-term tax cut law, which reduced income rates on individuals and included a bevy of tax cuts for small businesses. Trump has also said he wants to expand those tax cuts to include a series of campaign trail promises, including ending levies on tipped wages, overtime pay and Social Security benefits.

The White House has also said it would like to pass several other tax measures that could prove to be controversial among Republicans, including an expansion to the state and local tax deduction, eliminating the carried interest tax break favored by private equity fund managers and terminating tax breaks for billionaire sports team owners.

Among the tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year are an expanded credit of up to $2,000 per child, a 20% write-off for small business owners and a higher standard deduction that simplifies the filing process for many taxpayers.

One of the biggest issuers in the municipal-bond market is warning it may need to scale back its borrowing plans if federal lawmakers eliminate the tax-exemption on municipal debt.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs New York City’s transit system, anticipates selling $13 billion of debt to help support its 2025—2029 capital plan. But the MTA would need to lower that amount to about $10 billion if the agency were forced to sell taxable bonds rather than tax-exempt, according to Kevin Willens, the agency’s chief financial officer.

“There’s been discussion of eliminating tax exemption for public sector infrastructure projects, which would be a killer to our ability to raise capital,” Willens said Monday during the MTA’s finance committee meeting.

The MTA had $47.3 billion of outstanding debt as of Feb. 12, according to agency data. Its system of subway, bus and commuter rail lines relies on the municipal-bond market to keep its infrastructure in a state of good repair and to also rehabilitate a more than 100-year-old system that gets pummeled by extreme weather events.

“Unless we got additional revenue, we’d have to borrow less because debt service cost for every dollar borrowed would be higher,” Willens said in an interview after Monday’s committee meeting.

Tax-exempt debt helps finance public works projects throughout the U.S. Federal lawmakers are working on potential tax reform legislation that may limit the use of such borrowings or even eliminate it completely. Ending the tax benefit on municipal debt would cost states and local governments about $824 billion over a decade, according to a report by Public Finance Network, a collection of industry groups.