admin
MANAGING perceptions about Zimbabwe is key to unlocking the country’s potential and eventually turning the economy around. The past 15 years have been bad for Zimbabwe with investors and the international community reluctant to deal with the country on the back of negative publicity.
The economic and political downturn which began following the government’s land reform programme left the country’s image badly bruised and it will take a massive public relations exercise to undo the damage. The onus is on Zimbabweans to lead the perception management and project the country in good light so that the rest of the world can follow suit.
There is too much negativity around the country and this is bad for investor confidence. The current liquidity crunch has been overplayed, we believe, and it is time Zimbabweans adopted a positive outlook on their country and future.
There is reason to be optimistic given recent achievements. By being voted the best tourism destination in the world by an important organ of the European Union, Zimbabwe confounded its critics and proved to the world that it is on the path to prosperity. The European Council on Tourism and Trade proclaimed Zimbabwe as the winner of World Best Tourist Destination for 2014 and as receiver of Favourite Cultural Destination. It cited among the reasons for awarding Zimbabwe with the prestigious title “the peerless organisation of World Tourism Organisation General Assembly in August 24-30, 2013, the world gathering of tourism experts comprising more than 120 countries”.
It said the successful organisation of this world event, despite tremendous logistic and economic challenges, proved without a doubt the capacity of Zimbabwe’s tourism industry to organise world level events and to host all level of tourism. “After the perfect support and creative vision in carving a successful world tourism meeting, Zimbabwe has unequivocally demonstrated that it is a safe, open and perfect managed tourism power house,” the ECTT said.
The country follows this up by successfully hosting the Routes Africa 2014 summit, an event which brings together a wide range of aviation- based companies to conduct business to, from and within the African region. The summit, held in Victoria Falls last month, forms the essential meeting place where a wide range of airlines, airports and tourism authorities, including budget, flagship and national carriers gather and offer organisations the opportunity to meet with some of the most influential aviation professionals from across the world.
Following the summit, budget airline Fastjet announced that it would commence flights from Harare to Dar es Salaam while other bigger airlines expressed a willingness to come back to Zimbabwe. So there is potential to attract investors to key sectors such as tourism and these can be used to underpin the country’s economic revival. Elsewhere on these pages, we carry an article in which Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mangudya says Zimbabwe’s economy is not anywhere near collapsing with the liquidity challenges being experienced not as tight and gloomy as some quarters would want to portray and we agree totally with him. He said the banking sector was safe and sound with only five banks struggling.
Appearing before the portfolio committee on Finance and Economic Development on Monday, Dr Mangudya said it was not all gloom for Zimbabwe, saying although the liquidity situation appeared to be tight, the deposits base was growing. In a report for the quarter ending March 31, 2014, the central bank said total banking deposits had marginally improved to $4,82 billion from $4,73 billion last year. Said Dr Mangudya: “I bring a message of hope and optimism. This economy is not as illiquid as it is said, but what is there is that the negative perception is high. It’s just like saying that in Mangudya’s place there are witches and wizards and expect visitors to come to my place.”
He said the liquidity situation was a symptom of the underlying issue, which is perception. “There’s negative perception risk which in most cases is imagined and part of it real,” he said. “Business sentiment is low. I appeal to the market, customers and everyone to pay up. It’s a vicious cycle. Let’s do the right thing.”
Dr Mangudya’s sentiments are spot on and should spur Zimbabweans to be positive about their country and its policies. He is correct in his assessment that Zimbabwe can rebound if the country exploits its comparative advantage like tourism to kick start economic growth.
Stimulating capacity utilisation in industry is also essential to breathing life into the economy.
We are happy to note that the RBZ is on the path to recapitalisation and will soon become the government banker again as announced by Dr Mangudya. We also feel the resuscitation of the interbank market end of July will revitalise the banking sector.
We sincerely hope the nation heeds the RBZ chief’s wise counsel and lay a foundation for future prosperity by stopping the negativity pervading the country.
derick.khumalo