Online Reporter
Martin Kadzere
Business Reporter
THE stable economic environment anchored by the Zimbabwe Gold has significantly enhanced long-term planning, savings and investment conditions for local industries, a senior Delta Corporation executive has said.
In an interview at the company’s Southerton plant yesterday ahead of the premier Zimbabwe Industrialisation Conference and Expo (ZICE 2026), Delta Corporation finance director Mr Alex Makamure said the stability brought about by the domestic currency since its introduction in April 2024 has cleared major operational hurdles that previously constrained local enterprises.
The interview was organised by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in partnership with the Africa Economic Development Strategies (AEDS) think tank and national trade development and promotion body, ZimTrade, as part of the build-up to the high-level industrial expo scheduled for July 23–24 at the Harare International Conference Centre.
Mr Makamure said prior volatility in exchange rates and persistent currency fluctuations had made it difficult for domestic businesses to accurately forecast and invest.
“We can look at opportunities largely because the issues around what have been the challenges, which are your exchange rate and your currency issues, seem to be largely stable since the ZiG came in (April) 2024,” Mr Makamure said.
He noted that local currency predictability is the foundational cornerstone for any corporate recovery, expansion, or balance sheet defence in the manufacturing sector.
“So that would be one of the bigger issues that tends to affect Zimbabwean businesses, for them to be able to plan and to save and then to be able to invest and make sure that you make the recoveries.
“So from our perspective, we are looking more towards realising the opportunities,” he added.
Introduced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in April 2024, the ZiG is a structured currency backed by a combination of foreign exchange and physical gold reserves. Despite facing initial parallel market pressures and a significant central bank devaluation in late 2024, the currency has largely stabilised in 2026, bringing down annual local currency inflation to single-digit levels.
The positive sentiments from Delta, the country’s largest beverages maker, provide a progressive tone for the upcoming ZICE 2026 conference.
