Parastatal officials to attend Chinese fair

State Enterprises and Parastatals Minister Gorden Moyo will lead a delegation comprising officials from the public  entities.

The China International Fair for Investment and Trade runs from Saturday to Tuesday in that country.

“Indeed we are leading a delegation of officials from State enterprises and parastatals to attend the fair.

“However, I do not have the details of the entities that have so far confirmed their participation at the fair,” he said in a telephone interview from Victoria Falls on Friday.

He said the delegation will comprise chief executive officers, board of directors and finance executives for public entities.

At present, Government has expressed concern over the under-performance of public entities towards their contribution to the national economy due to lack of funds for recapitalisation, among others.

“As you might be aware that Government has come up with a restructuring policy for State entities, the delegation will attend the event to seek solutions to the capital challenges facing our parastatals.

“The fair will provide us with an opportunity to meet potential investors and explore joint ventures and foreign direct investment,” he said.

State enterprises and parastatals have a potential to contribute 40 percent to the economy when given adequate support for recapitalisation.

Huge debt overhang and dilapidated infrastructure are some of the challenges that have crippled the entities preventing them from fulfilling their mandate.

The State Enterprises and Parastatals Restructuring Agency (SERA) executive director Mr Edgar Nyoni has called for the commercialisation of public entities  in order to reduce dependence on central government.
He said Treasury had various programmes needing finance hence it could not meet all the requirements due to liquidity challenges.
Mr Nyoni highlighted that debt financing and management were critical where an entity has an accumulation of trading losses and huge debts overhang on balance sheets.

Recently, Government launched a working document aimed at enhancing transparency, accountability and credibility in the restructuring process.

Zimbabwe has 78 State enterprises, most of which are operating at a loss due to a variety of factors, chiefly under-capitalisation.