Online Reporter
Zimbabwe last year completed a number of signature projects that positively impacted on the people’s livelihoods and capped the year by launching the National Development Strategy (NDS) 2.
The development plan whose implementation starts this year, is expected to consolidate the social economic gains achieved under NDS1.
The projects that were completed last year include Beitbridge Border Post Modernisation, Harare-Beibridge Highway, Trabablas Interchange, Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport Expansion, New Parliament Building, Manhize Steel Company, a number of housing projects as well as schools and clinics across the country among other projects.
Speaking at the launch of NDS2, President Mnangagwa said in keeping with his Government’s focus on professionalism and high work ethic, the implementation of NDS2 will be anchored in stakeholder participation, value for money and the timely delivery of impactful results.
We have no doubt that the implementation of NDS2 will be another success story given that the country is building on last year’s momentum. Every citizen should therefore put shoulder to the wheel as we build the Zimbabwe we all want.
The NDS2 was launched a few weeks after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) commended Zimbabwe for maintaining fiscal discipline which it said had helped to contain inflation and stabilise the exchange rate.
The IMF said the Government has stopped printing money to finance its projects as was the case in the past hence it has made significant progress towards restoring macroeconomic stability.
The fund’s African Department Director, Mr Abebe Aemro Selassie, told journalists during the presentation of the new regional economic outlook for sub-Saharan Africa at the IMF-World Bank Annual Spring Meetings in Washington DC, United States that the diminished recourse to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s financing window has been a key policy shift aiding progress towards restoring macroeconomic stability in an economy long plagued by hyperinflation and exchange rate volatility.
Mr Selassie said Zimbabwe’s policies had contributed to solid economic performance, even in the absence of concessional financing that other countries in the region are benefiting from.
“Zimbabwe has faced considerable challenges in recent years and one of the distinguishing factors has been its limited access to concessional financing, which has helped other countries cushion the impact of global shocks. Against this difficult backdrop, it is encouraging to see Zimbabwe implementing sound policies,” he said.
Mr Selassie said Government’s recourse to central bank financing has declined significantly. He said it was therefore important to sustain this trend as reliance on central bank funding has in the past contributed to inflation and exchange rate volatility.
“We are encouraged by the Government’s recent actions and implore it to maintain this momentum”, said Mr Selassie. There is therefore a solid foundation for the implementation of NDS2 given the many positives recorded in the different sectors of the economy last year and as already alluded to, the challenge is to build on the momentum.
