Online Reporter
Michael Tome-Business Reporter
Mutapa Investment Fund says the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will expand African export markets for Zimbabwe’s battery minerals, steel inputs and other key commodities.
Zimbabwe’s sovereign wealth fund said this would create new opportunities to grow exports in line with Zimbabwe’s National Export Strategy, which targets to increase trade shipments by 10 percent annually.
Mutapa was established to manage state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and strategic investments to create national wealth and support economic growth towards the national vision of an upper-middle-income status by 2030.
The fund’s US$16 billion asset portfolio straddles mineral resources, agriculture and industrials, energy and trading, information communication technology, transport and logistics, banking and finance and financial services and real estate.
The removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers under AfCFTA, Mutapa said, would enhance intra-African trade, positioning local electric vehicle battery mineral producers to tap into a larger and more integrated continental market.
Mutapa, which has exposure to several strategic mining assets valued at US$2,4 billion as of December 2024, said Zimbabwe’s battery minerals would be among the key beneficiaries of the continental trade bloc, operationalised on January 1, 2021.
The AfCFTA agreement encompasses 55 member states of the African Union, with 54 having signed the agreement and 47 having ratified it as of early 2024.
It connects markets with approximately 1,3 billion people and US$3,4 trillion gross domestic product.
Mutapa’s mining portfolio includes lithium, nickel and chrome, minerals that are critical in the global energy transition, electric vehicle manufacturing and steel production.
In its inaugural annual report and first set of audited financial statements, Zimbabwe’s sovereign wealth manager said it would continue to position its assets to capitalise on emerging regional trade opportunities as the AfCFTA implementation gains momentum, particularly in minerals aligned with Africa’s industrial and energy transition agenda.
Peter Tanyanyiwa