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Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT will review and repeal laws that are negatively impacting on business as part of measures aimed at improving the investment climate, President Mugabe has said.
This will help the country to significantly bring down costs of doing business to the “barest minimum”, President Mugabe said at the occasion of Zimbabwe’s National Heroes Day celebrations at the National Heroes Acre in Harare on Monday.
“Being a country that observes and respects the rights of investors, as Government, we are prepared to listen to all investor concerns, and address them, with the aim of making sure that we bring down the cost of doing business in Zimbabwe,” he said.
President Mugabe said the Government will establish the National Competiveness Commission responsible for reviewing business-related legislation and the repealing of old laws “which tend to impact negatively on business activities”.
The National Competitiveness Commission will also be responsible for undertaking comprehensive research and benchmarking the country’s competitiveness with other countries and come up with recommendations to address the high cost of doing business.
The Government is also addressing the investment environment and cost of doing business through the development of the National Competitiveness Report.
The national competitiveness report will provide national benchmark of national competitiveness with respect to its peers in the region and global partners thereby opening a window for debate on areas which must be addressed to improve national competitiveness.
President Mugabe said the projected depressed economic growth for this year, resulting from the poor agriculture season, underlines the importance of the sector to the economy.
“There is need for drought proofing the economy to ameliorate the adverse effects of climate change,” said President Mugabe.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa trimmed the forecast for this year’s economic growth, taking into account the poor performance of agriculture.
Minister Chinamasa said the country’s economy is now expected to expand 1,5 percent this year, 1,7 percentage points below what he initially projected in December last year.
The World Bank lowered economic growth prospects to 1 percent for this year but will successively pick up steam in fiscal years starting next year to 2018. The 1,5 percent growth rate is the slowest Zimbabwe will achieve since dollarisation in 2009.
Agriculture performance for the 2014-15 season was below expectations, owing to the combined effects of the late onset of rains and its poor distribution, while the high cost of funding under the current environment of liquidity constraints was also an inhibiting factor. The impact was most severe on cereals such as maize and small grains.
President Mugabe said the Government has started implementing the new National Housing Delivery Programme that aims to deliver 313 368 urban housing units and serviced stands by 2018.
He said the rural housing programme has been resuscitated to improve rural living conditions.
The President said plans were underway to introduce the Rural Housing Loan Fund that will provide affordable loans to communal, A1 and A2 farmers.
Online Reporter