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BULAWAYO – President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Thursday called for stronger collaboration between public and private sectors to boost exports as a means to stabilise and grow the economy.
Officiating at the 2019 Zimtrade annual exporters’ conference, the Head of State said “the hurdle of inadequate export earnings” was affecting most sectors of the economy, as well as availability of essential commodities and services.
The conference ran under the theme: “re-think, reform and export.”
Zimbabwe has over the years ran a trade deficit as imports continued to outrun exports, but positive strides have been made in the past few months in reducing the gap.
“There is an urgent need for both the public and private sectors to synergize our efforts and collectively take the appropriate steps to boost our country’s exports, which is the most sustainable way to stabilise and grow our economy,” President Mnangagwa said.
Low export earnings have impacted the country’s ability to import critical goods such as power and fuel which in turn have had a knock on effect on the performance of productive sectors in the economy.
President Mnangagwa said sanctions imposed on the country by the West also affected market access for Zimbabwean goods on the export market as well as access to credit facilities and international payments.
“Our current position, therefore, calls for robust, innovative, collaborative strategies and efforts to build productive capacity and generate value added exports,” he said.
He said exporters must take advantage of the government’s engagement and re-engagement drive and the recently established African Continental Free Trade Area to explore new markets in countries such as China, Russia, Europe and the United Kingdom.
The country’s trade promotion body, Zimtrade had also signed agreements with a number of countries that local producers could exploit to expand their markets.
Local producers, he said, must not only ensure a minimum of their produce is exported, but also diversify the goods that are sold overseas to overcome current reliance on primary goods exports which generate low receipts.
“The culture of producing for exports needs to be inculcated amongst all producers and in particular small to medium enterprises,” the President said.
Meanwhile, President Mnangagwa also called on the country’s provinces to come up with their own export development strategies in line with the devolution agenda.
Industry and Commerce Minister, Mangaliso Ndlovu said boosting the country’s exports was a sure way of ensuring success of the government’s on-going reforms.
“Having launched the Zimbabwe National Industrial Development Policy five months ago, it is imperative that focus shifts towards implementation,” he said. – New Ziana
Bongani Ndlovu