Chronicle Editor
Zimbabwe witnessed a turnaround of the national economy during the first half of this year and the challenge therefore is to build on these economic gains.
According to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Dr John Mangudya, about 350 companies have so far been revived countrywide and he attributed this to the imports control measures put in place by Government through Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016 and the effects of this year’s bumper harvest.
In his mid-term monetary policy statement released on Wednesday, Dr Mangudya said the country’s economy was on the mend. He said the favourable agricultural season had a positive spillover effect on the agro-processing industry.
The central bank Governor said the bumper harvest, the revival of about 350 companies in the manufacturing sector and the import control measures put in place by Government, had enhanced the companies’ capacity utilisation. “Some companies in the food processing and packaging sub-sectors are now operating at above 70 percent of capacity,” said Dr Mangudya.
He said on its part, the RBZ continued to prioritise manufacturing companies when it comes to allocation of foreign currency to boost local production. Dr Mangudya said the economy was expected to grow by the 3,7 percent this year driven largely by agriculture, mining and tourism.
He said due to the favourable rainfall season and the positive impact of both the Presidential Inputs Support Scheme and the Command Agriculture Scheme, the agricultural sector was projected to grow by 21,6 percent while the mining and tourism sectors were on a rebound due to stability of the international commodity prices and price competitiveness respectively.
The central bank, Dr Mangudya said, had come up with a number of funding initiatives meant to enhance productivity and boost exports such as export finance facility, business linkages fund, tourism support facility, cross border facility and gold support facility.
The challenge to industry therefore is to maintain or even improve on the momentum gained so that the thousands of workers that lost their jobs when many companies closed, are back at work. Local authorities on their part should brace for this expected economic boom so that they are not found wanting in terms of service delivery.
Many urban local authorities have been failing to meet demand for water yet provision of adequate water supplies is one of the key services that investors demand. The thrust should be to develop local industries and in the event of the country attracting foreign direct investment, the development should be considered as a bonus.
The growth of local industries will boost foreign investors’ confidence hence the need to concentrate on reviving and expanding local companies. The positives recorded since the beginning of the year should spur Zimbabweans to work even harder to turn around the economy and improve the people’s livelihoods. The bumper harvest recorded this year has guaranteed the country food security and the resources that were being spent on importing food should be channelled towards assisting ailing companies.
We want to once again implore our industrialists to learn from the shortcomings of the first half of the year so that the economy performs even better during this second half.
Online Reporter