adminProsper Ndlovu in Harare
ENHANCING the ease of doing business is a top priority for the government as the country moves to attract more investment and meet economic targets outlined in Zim-Asset, a top official has said.
The country needs billions of dollars to implement a variety of economic projects under the Zim-Asset’s four clusters — Food Security and Nutrition, Social Services and Poverty Eradication, Infrastructure and Utilities as well as Value Addition and Beneficiation.
Some of the projects are already underway in key sectors such as energy, agriculture, mining and transport with bulk funding still needed mainly towards revitalising the manufacturing sector and developing robust value addition and beneficiation synergies to improve domestic competitiveness and exports.
On Monday the government unveiled a new draft communication and stakeholder engagement strategy to oil the on-going policy reforms in a bid to facilitate speedy economic recovery.
“At the moment the ease of doing business is at the centre of it all. We want to ensure that we attract investment by opening all the avenues for economic growth,” said Ambassador Mary Mubi, head of the public affairs department in the Office of the President and Cabinet while unveiling the document.
“We encourage the private sector to start positioning itself for the coming opportunities. Already we’ve five working groups in the government who are working on this ease of doing business issue.
“The President (Mugabe) has said the Companies Act for instance should be reviewed by December this year. If we don’t grow the economy and bridge the fiscal gap, then we can’t develop.”
Ambassador Mubi said investor concerns on the length of time taken to register and set up business in Zimbabwe would be reduced from 90 days while other registration bottlenecks and multiplicity of processes will be removed.
Parliament has started the process of reviewing the legal provisions that affect investment in line with the recent 10-point economic recovery master plan announced by President Mugabe in his state of the nation address last month.
At least 14 bills with a bias towards investment will be tabled in this session of Parliament.
Major focus is centred on revitalising the agriculture sector and the downstream value chain, advancing beneficiation of agricultural and mining resources, infrastructure development, unlocking the potential of small to medium enterprises and encouraging private sector investment.
About 80 percent of the $27 billion required to revamp the economy is expected to come from the private sector.
The government has already reviewed the labour legislation following the spate of job losses that were triggered by the July landmark Supreme Court ruling that stated that workers could be fired after being given three months’ notice.
The implementation of special economic zones, pursuing the anti-corruption thrust, promoting joint ventures and private-public partnerships as well as restoring and building confidence and stability in the financial services sector, form the core of the master plan.
Given the ongoing reform processes, economic expert, Tim Vickery, from Zimbisa, who also attended the meeting, said Zimbabwe has the capacity to improve its global rankings within a short space of time.
Online Reporter