JUST IN: Gvt urged to address cost of production

From Sydney Kawadza in CAIRO, Egypt
Government should address the cost of production to make Zimbabwean products more competitive on both the continent and global market.

This emerged during the on-going Intra-African Trade Fair at the Al Manara International Conference Centre in Cairo, Egypt.

The IATF 2018, the first of its kind on the continent, aims to provide a platform for promoting intra-Africa trade while facilitating information exchange in the sustainable implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.

President Mnangagwa, in March this year, joined 48 other African Heads of State in signing the AfCFTA agreement in Kigali, Rwanda.

In an interview, ZimTrade chief executive Mr Allan Majuru said issues such as cost of production were inhibiting trade between Zimbabwe and fellow SADC member states.

Trade among African countries is currently around 16 percent, way less compared to China, Europe and the Americas.

“It comes back to the issue of competitiveness and when I say competitiveness I mean the easy of doing export businesses.

“When we have to supply quality goods and the cost of production is high, it’s limiting the amount of products that we can send to Zambia, Mozambique or any other African country,” he said.

More to follow. . .