Chronicle Editor
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
SELECTED companies in Bulawayo have been earmarked to get part of the nearly US$1 billion the country received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of the international financial institution’s initiative to provide additional liquidity to the global financial system.
Zimbabwe early this month received 677.4 million Special Drawing Rights (US$961 million) as part of the 650 billion SDR allocations IMF distributed to member countries. Various sectors have been keeping an ear to the ground on how the money would be used as they seek bailouts amid challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In an interview on the sidelines of a tour of youth empowerment projects dotted around Bulawayo yesterday, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said some Bulawayo companies were also set to benefit from the fund which must spur industrial growth in the city which has been hit by de-industrialisation.
“The money is in our account for a start, so now we are in that planning, execution phase where the President has created a committee which I chair, so that involves the Secretary for Finance and the Central Bank Governor and I report to him once a month so that monies are managed transparently and are appropriately deployed to the right projects. We have identified the areas and now we will get even more granular.
We want to capacitate industries; we are here in Bulawayo and there are a couple of companies that are in the cotton value chain and also in the leather value chain and those are typical targets for this kind of resource,” he said.
Prof Ncube said he could not immediately name some of the companies but it will target those in the value chain.
“There are three companies that we are targeting in Bulawayo that I will not name for now, but these companies are in the cotton value chain that manufacture clothing. If we look at this value chain, there is cotton that we get from Gokwe, Muzarabani and Jotsholo, we have it but we export it as it is and we go back and import materials that we use to manufacture clothing.
“What we realised is that there is a gap in processing the cotton into materials, we need companies that go into garment manufacturing, we will disburse funds to them in partnership with banks so that they buy machinery and manufacture clothing locally so that we do not import clothing from other countries.
“We want our value chain to be complete starting with the cotton farmers who we will give money to, it goes through to ginning, making the materials and garments that end up in the shop and we buy. We want to fix this chain,” he said.
Prof Ncube said the funds will also be used to support the leather industry.
“Bulawayo and Matabeleland are places where there are cattle, we want to support companies in the leather value chain too. We do have some funding of our own so we will adhere to the contents of the National Development Strategy 1 and carry through the projects,” he said.
Prof Ncube said the socio-economic sector was also set for a revival too.
“Looking at the socio-economic sector which has been hard hit by Covid-19, so in health we want to make sure we acquire more vaccines, get our hospitals equipment in theatres and in education we want to upgrade and build new schools especially boarding schools in rural areas. It is easier to have people in one place than for them to travel far,” he added.
Prof Ncube said some of the money will be used as the country’s reserves that will go a long way towards supporting macro- economic stability and also to stabilise the Zimbabwean dollar. Prof Ncube said the fund was targeted at sectors that can change people’s lives ensuring that no one is left behind. Funds, he said, will be disbursed transparently and accountability will be key.
“So, we are targeting things like irrigation to climate proof our agriculture. We set up a revolving fund to support the horticulture sector which is export oriented, we support small-scale miners with equipment and create an equipment bank because their biggest challenge is the equipment. We will deploy some of the resources in infrastructure, housing and roads,” he said.-@NyembeziMu
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