Online Reporter
Nqobile Bhebhe [email protected]
TREASURY has challenged researchers, academics and industry leaders at the fifth Zimbabwe Economic Development Conference (ZEDCON) to come up with concrete policy interventions capable of lifting economic growth from the current 5-6 percent to 7-8 percent annually.
Deputy Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion David Mnangagwa said the three-day conference in Bulawayo must produce actionable recommendations to inform the 2027 National Budget and strengthen implementation of the Second National Development Strategy (NDS2).
Addressing delegates yesterday, Deputy Minister Mnangagwa said ZEDCON had been deliberately structured as a technical platform where research and policy analysis could be translated into practical Government interventions.
“As we convene at this gathering, our mandate over the next three days, is technical, analytical, and policy-oriented.
“We are here to interrogate empirical researches, stress-test policy assumptions and build evidence-based frameworks as necessary to enhance macroeconomic policy making for accelerated growth of the economy and national development.”
He said Treasury established ZEDCON as a policy incubator to ensure national economic planning and budgeting were grounded in research and evidence.
“ZEDCON was established by Treasury as a primary policy incubator.
“This annual forum has emerged as a technical bridge designed to translate empirical research and stakeholder input into concrete, actionable fiscal policy proposals,” he said.
Deputy Minister Mnangagwa said previous editions had increasingly informed Government policy responses.
He said the 2024 conference, held against the backdrop of an El Niño-induced drought, generated research that supported policy shifts towards climate-smart agriculture, including dam construction, irrigation infrastructure and solar grid expansion.
Last year’s Bulawayo conference, he said, interrogated macroeconomic frameworks and provided technical input into measures aimed at stabilising the domestic currency, containing inflation and modernising the Public-Private Partnership framework.
“ZEDCON is the engine room of the National Budgeting process,” he said.
This year, infrastructure has emerged as a major area of focus, with Deputy Minister Mnangagwa describing it as fundamental to national productivity and competitiveness.
“Infrastructure is the baseline factor of production that determines national productivity and competitiveness,” he said.
He said unreliable energy, inefficient transport systems and inadequate digital infrastructure increased costs and undermined Zimbabwe’s competitiveness.
Under NDS2, he said Zimbabwe needed to move towards smart, integrated and technology-driven infrastructure, including smart grids, renewable energy, waste-to-energy generation and technology-enabled urban planning.
He cited greenfield developments such as the proposed Bulawayo Special Economic Zone as areas requiring innovative infrastructure solutions.
The Treasury target, he said, was to translate the research generated at ZEDCON into policies capable of accelerating economic growth and advancing the country’s Vision 2030 aspirations.
“The ultimate objective is to implement evidence based policies to elevate economic growth from the current 5-6% per annum to 7-8% per annum towards realising Vision 2030 aspiration of a prosperous and an empowered upper middle-income society by 2030,” he said.
Deputy Minister Mnangagwa urged delegates to ensure that their presentations and deliberations produced recommendations that could be implemented.
“Treasury is seeking direct, actionable empirically verifiable, evidence based policy researches, not abstract theories.
“Every presentation and discussion session must yield concise, policy recommendations that can be implemented.”
ZEDCON 2026 is being held under the theme “Smart Infrastructure for an Upper Middle-Income Society”, with the conference focusing on sustainable energy and power generation, urban infrastructure and smart cities, ICT connectivity, rail infrastructure, and fintech and financial inclusion.
