Investment environment set

Richard Mbaiwa
The most important thing that investors look at is clarity and consistency of investment laws and policies.

Since the dawn of the new dispensation, major policy decisions have been made such as the amendment to the indigenisation and economic empowerment laws, which I think is something that has brought a lot of confidence to the investment community.

That law was one of the major issues that investors always raised as an area of concern. In that respect, we think that there is now more confidence in the economy as a destination for investment.

Government is welcoming investment.

The President is on record saying Zimbabwe is open for business.

I think that in itself is an assuring statement to investors that this country welcomes their investments and when they invest, their investments are secure.

You may also recall that there was a policy statement that was published together with the investment guidelines and opportunities, which has guarantees given by the Government on security of investment an on non-discrimination of foreign investors.

I think those issues are very important for investors. In that respect, I think the environment for investment has improved quite significantly from the old dispensation coming into the new one.

In my view, that is also reflected even in the levels of investors coming to Zimbabwe, people making enquiries about investing, making commitments and also actually submitting project proposals that we are approving.

There has been a significant improvement in all those numbers and I think that is a reflection of the increased confidence in the current investment environment.

Going into the future, the investment scenario is quite bullish and investors are upbeat about the prospects for investment in this country and for economic growth.

It’s upward looking with all the opportunities that are untapped in the various sectors of the economy.

If you look at mining for example, the whole value chain, not only looking at extraction but also going into value addition and beneficiation.

If you look at our infrastructure sector, I think there are so many prospects of getting investment into that sector to develop our road infrastructure, our rail infrastructure and our civil aviation infrastructure.

As we look at this whole thing of trying to beneficiate and value add for agriculture or mining, it means the manufacturing sector is going to be very busy.

If we look at our steel industry, getting back to its feet it will have ripple effects across the economy, it means some industries that had “died” are going to rise, but more importantly, new ones are going to be established.

That will mean that the manufacturing sector will come back and take its position. Previously, it used to contribute around 20 percent to GDP and exports.

Now we are saying even our exports should be value added rather than being primary.

If you look at the export receipts that we have now, it is mostly coming from unprocessed commodities, but some years ago, we used to export a lot of processed goods.

Another sector that has got a lot of prospect is the energy sector, especially the renewable energy sector. As the economy grows all these other sectors will need power. We need to continue to have projects that will enable us to support other sectors, because you can’t do much without power whether you are in agriculture, manufacturing or mining.

All these sectors are interlinked. As one sector grows, it needs to have linkages with the other sectors.

There is need to continue reforming; the business climate, the investment climate in terms of being responsive to investor needs and cutting on bureaucratic tendencies.

But those are things Government is aware of although some things need administrative and legal reforms to be done like amending certain laws that may be inhibiting or are not friendly to investment. A few weeks ago, the President brought in senior officials from the Rwanda Development Board to share their experiences with us, Cabinet, permanent secretaries and the private sector.

That awareness is there now, that we need to create an investor friendly investment environment in terms of how we respond to investment enquiries and investment needs.

So, that realisation is there and action is being taken to ensure that we smoothen the investment process in the country.

The other thing is to embrace technology. People should be able to access information digitally, to interact with authorities without necessarily having to come here physically and filling in forms.

If we manage to get all our agencies of Government and all the people who interact with investors to be able to have that interface at a digital level, it will go a long way to fight some of the vices that come with human interaction such as corruption.

Mr Richard Mbaiwa is the chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe Investment Authority. He was speaking to our senior reporter, Lincoln Towindo.