Online Reporter
Nqobile Bhebhe Zimpapers Business Hub
Zimbabwe is taking advantage of its participation at the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos to make meaningful contributions to high-level discussions on critical minerals and newly introduced fiscal instruments such as the digital services tax, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has said.
The high-profile engagement has positioned Zimbabwe within substantive global economic conversations, reinforcing perceptions of macroeconomic resilience and reform momentum at a time when investors are closely monitoring emerging market risk profiles.
The 2026 WEF Annual Meeting, underway in Davos, Switzerland, is being held under the theme “Promoting Global Dialogue and Cooperation amid Geopolitical and Economic Uncertainty” and has attracted a record turnout of heads of state, policymakers and international business leaders.
Providing an update on proceedings on Tuesday, Professor Ncube said the Davos discussions underscored the urgent need for renewed global dialogue, particularly in light of growing strains on multilateral systems.
“So multilateral institutions are in public discussion here, but also the kind of growth that is expected going forward, how growth is affected in an environment where we see tariffs going up, in an environment where we see technology growing in leaps and bounds in terms of air-to-air technology, but also with Africa being a social human capital globally,” said Prof Ncube.
The Minister said Zimbabwe was also actively contributing to conversations around critical minerals, which are increasingly central to the global economic and energy transition agenda.
Critical minerals are elements essential to the production of high-tech devices, renewable energy technologies and defence systems. They include rare earth elements such as lithium, cobalt and graphite, which are considered “critical” due to their strategic importance and supply chain vulnerabilities.
“We are also seeing a demand for critical minerals, such as lithium and other minerals.
“So here, as Zimbabwe, we can contribute to some of those discussions, especially around critical minerals, how, for example, we have successfully put in policies for beneficiation and maximised benefits of these minerals,” said Prof Ncube.
He cited Zimbabwe’s lithium sector as a practical example of policy-driven value addition attracting investment.
“The case in point is lithium, where we have seen investment in the lithium beneficiation facilities by foreign investors,” he said.
“All of this has been welcomed in terms of our contribution to the discussions here in Davos.”
Beyond minerals, Prof Ncube said Zimbabwe’s fiscal reforms, particularly in the digital economy, were also drawing interest from global stakeholders.
“But also our contributions regarding the introduction of instruments, fiscal instruments, such as the digital services tax that we recently introduced or updated,” he said.
“We had the tax in the form of VAT, value-added tax reform.”
He explained that the tax framework had since been refined to improve efficiency and compliance.
“We’ve now transformed it into a withholding tax, and that makes it just easier to direct. We have direct licences, neural platforms act as the auditor of the tax, year-on-year time of banks and so forth.”
According to Prof Ncube, the digital services tax is viewed as a modern fiscal tool that enables countries such as Zimbabwe to capture value generated within the digital economy for broader national benefit.
“This is clearly a very modern tax seen as a way for Zimbabwe and other countries to harness the cost we are seeing in the digital space for benefits for citizens,” he said.
“So the budgetary process is a way to redistribute these benefits to the best of the citizens.”
He acknowledged that further refinements were still required to ensure fairness and effectiveness.
“We still need to do more work, of course. We are making sure that those companies that make money and revenues from using content from Zimbabwe also pay their fair share of income tax for the benefit of Zimbabwe,” said Prof Ncube.
“So this digital tax is an important contribution we are making here.”
Zimbabwe’s active participation at Davos comes as the country seeks to leverage its mineral endowment and fiscal reforms to attract sustainable investment and deepen its integration into evolving global economic frameworks.
