The Sunday Mail
Langton Nyakwenda in Victoria Falls
Zimbabwe is poised for an “exciting” turn in economic fortunes and should adopt new mindsets to transform this into reality, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa has said.
Minister Chinamasa said while present circumstances were depressing, the country was fast-moving towards more positive prospects.
He cited agriculture and mining, small to medium-scale enterprises, industry capitalisation and foreign direct investment among the key areas expected to stimulate economic turnaround.
The minister was addressing legislators and other key stakeholders at Parliament’s Pre-Budget Seminar here yesterday.
“We should not dwell too much on the present, for the present is depressing.
“It is full of challenges and it is not good at all. However, the future looks very exciting and it is beckoning.
“We just need to change our attitude, be more resourceful and engage in robust debates that should see Government coming up with fruitful policies and strategies.
“We have no fiscal space; we are operating a cash budget.
“We have a million things that need to be attended to urgently. So, with this little that we have, what will be needed going forward is prioritising key sectors and ideas that build the economy,” he said.
Minister Chinamasa said 5,8 million Zimbabweans were earning a living from SMEs, making them key economic players.
He also said interventions such as FDI could help stem liquidity problems.
“We need to do everything necessary to attract FDI.
“In the past year, we only got US$400 million compared to our neighbours, Mozambique, who received almost US$3 billion from that channel,” he said.
Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister Fred Moyo said Zimbabwe should continue prioritising value-adding minerals.
He noted, though, that lack of advanced equipment made it difficult to determine the country’s exact mineral wealth through exploration.
Mr Winston Chitando of the Chamber of Mines added: “The mining sector is a critical lubricator of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio Economic Transformation blueprint. There is real need to unlock mineral value.
“About US$5,8 billion is required to capitalise mining operations — that is resuscitating closed mines and increasing production levels of existing mines.
“Capacity is way below 50 percent. The gold sector is now expected to produce 14 tonnes annually compared to 28 tonnes at its peak.
“The other issue is that Zimbabwe is heavily under-explored. The areas explored were done using old technology and this has not helped us get the exact capacity.”
