Chronicle Editor
Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT is working on modalities to disburse $3,02 billion for industry, which is part of the $18 billion Economic Recovery and Stimulus package aimed at re-invigorating the economy.
Last month, the Government unveiled the Economic Recovery and Stimulus Package whose resources will cover different sectors following economic slowdown induced by the Covid-19 global pandemic.
In an interview yesterday, Finance and Economic Development Deputy Minister Clemence Muduwa said:
“In our economic recovery and stimulus, we said we are going to provide working capital for industries to the tune of $3,02 billion.
“From this $3,02 billion, we are providing Government guarantees to the tune of $2,5 billion but this is specifically for bank loans that are accessed by industry for working capital purposes. We are now working on implementation modalities.”
Deputy Minister Muduwa said a technical team has already been set up to look at the implementation modalities that include designing finer details of how businesses can access the money.
He said the disbursement of the resources from the facility will be done by selected financial institutions with announcement expected in due course.
Deputy Minister Muduwa said resources to support the stimulus package had been internally generated from Government’s initiatives such as the freeing of statutory requirements for the banking sector.
“When we reduced the statutory requirements for our banks, it freed some reserves of about $2 billion, which they (banks) can then on-lend to the productive sector while we provide the guarantees,” said Deputy Minister Muduwa.
Meanwhile, listed companies that have released their financial results for the first quarter reported that their revenues base and operations have taken a dip due to Covid-19, among other challenges prevailing in the market.
Companies have also adopted various initiatives aimed at curbing the spread of the pandemic. — @okazunga.
derick.khumalo