BANK OF ZAMBIA PAYS OUT FOREIGN CURRENCY ARREARS The Bank of Zambia has paid out foreign exchange arrears from three auctions conducted last year, a bank spokesman said. "We have now cleared three auctions and are left with only four, worth eight mln dlrs," the spokesman said without specifying the amount paid out. The bank had not paid foreign exchange to private firms since it suspended the weekly auctions on January 28. It has said the auctions were suspended because it planned to introduce a modified system after talks with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. President Kenneth Kaunda announced last month that the auction would be retained for allocating foreign exchange to approved private sector bidders, but would not be used to determine the kwacha's exchange rate. Last week, he said the auction had run into trouble because of a shortage of foreign exchange. The government has fixed the exchange rate at nine kwacha per dollar, effectively revaluing the kwacha by 67.7 pct.