adminBRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
He was speaking on the sidelines of the Zimbabwe-China Fair recently.
“The Chinese economy, as a case in point, is run by state-owned enterprises. The difference from ours is that theirs are viable, well-managed and has adequate capacities.
“This is the same across all the BRICS, and what we intend to do is follow such a trend. Even if they are eventually privatised, they should emerge from effective State entities,” he said.
The Chinese, in particular, have actively reformed their state enterprises to meet the challenges of increasing global competition through its Zhengqifenkai policy which formally separates the functions of government from the business operations of the enterprises.
According to the Mckinsey Quarterly Report of July 2008, titled “Reassuring China’s State-Owned Enterprises”, the line between the country’s state enterprises and the private sector has significantly blurred.
“The reform of state-owned enterprises has always been the key link of China’s economic restructuring. The reform process in China has gone through different stages, progressing from mild changes to fundamental overhaul, and the country is currently in its third phase of its reform programme.
“In Zimbabwe, the initial phases of restructuring were fairly successful as evidenced by the success stories that saw the successful completion of privatisation of the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe, Dairibord Zimbabwe, AICO, Zimbabwe Reinsurance Company, and recently Ziscosteel,” said Minister Moyo.
Ten more firms have been identified under the current restructuring phase, namely Agribank, Cold Storage Company, Air Zimbabwe, National Railways of Zimbabwe,
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, the Grain Marketing Board, NetOne and TelOne.
The restructuring of State enterprises will also serve to mobilise financial resources to improve their capacities.
However, these entities continue to be an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer.
Minister Moyo said one key area of the restructuring process entailed placing key parastatals and State enterprises under his ministry. “We need to rethink the structure of our parastatals in terms of placing them under one ministry so as to improve oversight,” he said.
The current structure where different parastatals are scattered across different ministries is cited as one of the factors that have stalled their reformation.
The Government has already commenced the reviewing of the legal and regulatory framework for State enterprises and parastatals, aimed at improving their effectiveness, autonomy and accountability.
Online Reporter