Chronicle Editor
Oliver Kazunga recently in Victoria Falls
THE Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) has called on the Government to establish qualification matrix and tracking system on economic recovery packages to ensure the resources reach the intended beneficiaries.
In the past, the Government has come up with financial packages to bail out businesses in light of harsh economic environment or uncertainties such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
For example, following the outbreak of the Covid-19 in Zimbabwe in March last year, the Government unveiled a ZWL$18 billion Economic Recovery and Stimulus Package.
The package was aimed at reinvigorating the economy and providing relief to individuals, families, small businesses and industries impacted by the economic slowdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Of the package, a total of ZWL$3,02 billion was set aside as working capital for the industrial sector.
However, despite such efforts by the Government, there have been concerns that businesses were having challenges in accessing resources under the facility.
It is against this background that the ZNCC annual congress in Victoria Falls last week recommended the need to establish qualification matrix and tracking system on economic recovery packages.
“On economic recovery packages, there is need to establish qualification matrix and tracking system to ensure that funds reach the intended targets so that we don’t just speak from a global or aggregated figure’s perspective, but we are also able to track it down to the final recipient,” said a ZNCC official Mr Herbert Muzonde while presenting the resolutions of their congress.
He said ZNCC has also taken it upon itself to participate in the fight against corruption.
Zimbabwe under the leadership of President Mnangagwa has declared zero tolerance to corruption leading to the setting up of the Zimbabwe Anti- Corruption Commission (ZACC).
“The ZNCC is alive to the reality of corruption in both the public and private sector. We must therefore be seen as businesses taking the issue of corruption seriously.
“As business, we want to admit that corruption is very expensive and on that note there must be speedy capacitation of ZACC so that it has all the material that it needs to execute its mandate,” said Mr Mazonde.
On foreign currency trading system, he said ZNCC has also resolved at the just-ended congress that there should be full implementation of the tenets of the Dutch Auction System the country introduced in June 2020.
The Government through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) introduced the weekly Foreign Exchange Auction Trading System with a view to improve accessibility to forex by the productive sectors of the economy.
However, of late there have been concerns that although the introduction of the auction system was a good move, the platform needed to be fine tuned in order to improve its efficiency.
“The congress adopted the position that there must be full implementation of the tenets of the Dutch Auction System and also ring-fencing those that are having forex so that there is some assurance that those exporters who bring it will get at least a piece of the cake when it comes to the distribution of that resource,” said Mr Mazonde.
He said ZNCC also resolved that the Government should continue working on implementing the ease of doing business reforms to promote trade and investment in different sectors of the economy.
Delegates to the ZNCC congress made firm commitment towards strengthening ties with other sister chambers such as the Zambian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
This, Mr Mazonde said he would facilitate the joint ventures in identified areas of common interest and partnership.
Promotion of joint venture initiatives also augers well with the Government’s thrust on attracting foreign direct investments into the country.
It is in the context that the Second Republic has adopted the “Zimbabwe is open for business” mantra inviting potential investors from across the globe to do business with Zimbabwe.
In addition, the Government has embarked on an international re-engagement drive to improve its relations with the rest of the world after the country had gone for close to two decades of isolation from the global village.
The US and its Western allies imposed ecnomic sanctions on Zimbabwe after it successfully implemented its land reform programme meant to correct the skewed land ownership which favoured whites. – @okazunga.
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