adminVandudzayi Zirebwa Buy Zimbabwe
Economists the world over have found out that the biggest challenge nations face in reviving their fortunes for the better is more often than not, a function of a collective mindset.
Confidence on whether an economy is set to rebound or remain stagnant has in many instances led to panic buying and massive bank withdrawals that have led to the collapse of financial institutions while resulting in stock markets going through a period of stagnation as investors keep their money or direct it to countries where they get better returns.
Inasmuch as there are some real structural issues to be attended to, it is an undeniable fact that our country is going through a period where confidence on the direction of the economy is possibly at its lowest since the end of the hyperinflation era.
All of a sudden the euphoria that greeted the introduction of the United States dollar has vanished and industries that for the past years were recording remarkable recovery, moving from capacity utilisation levels of below 30 percent and going past 50 percent are scaling down operations.
Projections were that the positive growth would rise to levels above 60 percent and that exports from the manufacturing sector, which are supposed to be a source of foreign currency, would recover.
Meanwhile, our imports have continued to increase and by the first six months of the year had risen by over 25 percent, with fertlisers, fuels, and an array of basic commodities accounting for the bulk of the bill.
The liquidity crunch being experienced is also a function of this dip in local confidence and selecting foreign products rather than local ones.
Sadly, as much as the general competitiveness of local products has to improve against foreign products, we have a number of local champions that have fallen prey to the collective sentiment.
Rather than search for those Zimbabwean products that can match and even beat foreign products and services at quality and even price, many consumers have registered in their minds that we are poorer across the board and without discrimination are moving across the border to spend their money.
As this happens we lose more jobs, companies find it hard to recapitalise, local demand becomes more deflated and the same person who has taken the decision to venture elsewhere wriggles in pain as their small business fails to recover and raise enough to pay workers and meet basic expenses.
In short, the loss the loss of confidence in our industries, in our own future and in our abilities has driven us to import more and created a situation that we face at the moment where our liquidity is getting worse by the day.
Building the necessary confidence among key stakeholders at Government, consumer and industry level is thus a major intervention necessary to remind Zimbabweans that we can positively impact our future.
At some point a well-known industrialist and leader of one of a top organisations in the country argued that we should not focus on Buying Zimbabwe and that we must seek to produce Zimbabwe.
While it is true that supply side constraints are a major constraint in our economic growth and must be attended to, we feel that any focus that does not seek to manage sentiment as well as being market driven is bound to fail.
In the early days of the Industrial Revolution, it did not matter what you produced, the presumption was that the market would absorb whatever comes from the factory.
Unfortunately, today’s markets are known to be totally irrational, influenced by a number of factors that include advertising, government subsidies and the simple belief that certain products are better than others.
Just watch how the youths respond to products that are marketed by American celebrities.
A few weeks back our neighbours, South Africa, launched the Buy Back South Africa campaign.
One of the television commercials that are being played on SABC features young South Africans roaming the streets without jobs and foreigners that are stealing jobs and a proud nation that has done so much for the world, produced Nelson Mandela and hosted the World Cup but is struggling.
The appeal is that South Africa must be bought back from cruel foreigners. Our neighbours are pushing a positive national sentiment.
Let’s celebrate our local champions by Buying Zimbabwe.
Till we meet again be blessed.
Email: vandudzai @buyzimbabwe.org.zw; cell 00263773751878
Online Reporter