THE Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) will next month hold its annual congress in Bulawayo where several companies have closed shop or are struggling to survive due to lack of working capital and the poor performance of the economy.
Report by Business Reporter
Initially, the CZI congress was supposed to have been held in July this year, but was pushed to October to pave way for the harmonised elections.This year’s congress scheduled to run between October 9 and 11 will be held under the theme “Imperatives for reversing de-industrialisation.”
Early this year, former CZI president Kumbirayi Katsande warned that the capacity utilisation of most firms was expected to further plunge due to Bulawayo’s de-industrialisation.
In the first four months of this year the economy contracted due to fears stalked by election uncertainties resulting in former Finance minister Tendai Biti reversing economic growth projections to 3,4%.
Capacity utilisation for the manufacturing sector has been on an upward trend since 2009 from 10% to 57,2% in 2011 and then it started to contract to 44,2% in 2012. The sector is faced with liquidity challenges, antiquetted equipment, power and water shortages that pose viability challenges.
According to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, total net collections for the first half of the year stood at $1.66 billion against a target of $1,67 billion, resulting in a marginal negative variance of 1%. During the first quarter of the year the revenue collections surpassed by 5%, but in the second quarter the target was missed by 6%.
Some of the companies that closed down in the past decade include Karina Textiles, David Whitehead, Cairns Foods, Pine Products, PG Safety Glass and Mutare Board and Paper Mills.
