adminBusiness Correspondent
ANALYSTS indicate that pressure on the fiscus will continue for the remainder of the year, with revenues in decline against the background of increasing company closures.
During the first six months to June 2014, the total fiscal revenues amounted to $1,718 billion, which was 7 percent below the target.
This was also against total expenditures and net lending amounting to $1,772 billion, giving rise to a cumulative deficit of $53,6 million.
Given that scope, cash flows in the country have been direly affected and Buy Zimbabwe chief executive officer Mr Munyaradzi Hwengwere said there was no better time to spearhead the ‘‘Buy Zimbabwe’’ campaign to leverage local industry.
He said Zimbabwe’s import bill had increased to $9,6 billion in the past three years reflecting an over-reliance on imports.
Industrialists during the recently held Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries congress also concurred that there was now an urgent need to keep money inside the country by all means possible to avert the liquidity crisis and massive company closures in the absence of Foreign Direct Investment to boost industry.
According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, the import bill has averaged $4 billion in the past two years, while the economy has also incurred a $1,7 billion trade deficit between January and June this year (2014).
South Africa, which is the economy’s biggest trading partner, is accounting for more than 60 percent of the imports.
Mr Hwengwere said the huge import bill could be solved by implementing policies to restore industrial productivity which means an overhaul of the country’s procurement laws, regulations and framework.
“Our net loss from imports for the last three years has been $9,6 billion, which is projected to be higher than our national debt since 1980.
“So to lose out on imports worth $9,6 billion in just three years when our local industry is bleeding is ridiculous.
“In South Africa, they have a 75 percent local procurement accord, of which 60 percent of our imports are coming from them.
“We clearly need a minimum of 50 percent local procurement policy. That is the only way we can develop our economy,” said Mr Hwengwere.
Buy Zimbabwe was launched in 2011 and its objectives are to raise awareness and the profile of home-grown goods and services, to assist local companies in improving the quality of their products and services.
It also seeks to lobby Government to enact laws and policies that support local producers and connecting local producers to retailers, consumers and other relevant stakeholders that include Government and quasi-Government institutions.
Mr Hwengwere said Government must now champion the public procurement process by prioritising local products.
“We have seen the tender process exclude local companies but we now have a public procurement process with a clause that Government must lead in buying locally,” he said.
According to economists, although the trade deficit has been on a continuous marginal decline since January this year, the huge import bill is nonetheless creating challenges for fiscal authorities in balancing revenue and expenditure requirements.
The Bankers’ of Association of Zimbabwe president, Mr Sam Malaba, recently revealed that Government has outstanding arrears to local suppliers of goods and services amounting to about $400 million.
On the other hand there are already strides being made by Government with the State Procurement Board last month turning down requests by Government departments and parastatals to buy vehicles from outside the country.
The SPB implements Government policy on the procurement of general use or operational vehicles for the public sector.
The SPB was reportedly referring all Government departments and parastatals to Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries for luxurious cars and Quest Motors and Deven Engineering for buses and trucks.
Online Reporter