BY MISHMA CHAKANYUKA
Foreign Affairs and International Trade minister Sibusiso Moyo has urged exporters to be aggressive in order to penetrate all the markets, including the most dangerous ones.
Last year, Zimbabwe’s exports stood at US$4 billion, up from US$3,5 billion in 2017, an increase of 14% while total imports increased by 26% from US$4,96 billion in 2017 to US$6,26 million in 2018, upsetting the balance of trade.
“We need to be aggressive as exporters; we need to adopt an aggressive approach so that we penetrate even the most dangerous markets. Let us adopt an attitude which is aggressive because if we don’t, others will,” Moyo told an exporters breakfast meeting in Harare yesterday.
“Exporters are the core of an economy; they are the drivers of an economy and they are also the implementers of government policy. Exporters ensure that whatever economic framework which has been laid works. If the nation fails, it means that it is the exporters who would have failed.”
Zimbabwe has continued to lag behind in terms of improving exports due to a non-conducive business environment as government has failed to implement supportive policies to support increasing production.
Limiting the production growth is the lack of adequate forex to import critical raw materials, also made worse by the devaluation of the local currency in June.
Moyo said there was need to end the country’s isolation to enable it implement its ease of doing business policies so that it accesses lines of credit.
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“This country has been in isolation for long. It has been in isolation from at least year 2000, so we have to try to move it from a ditch (from isolation),” he said.
He added that government had been able to control money supply through the interbank foreign exchange market, adding this would boost foreign currency availability.
However, since the introduction of the interbank market in February, which was envisioned to attract forex holders to sell their foreign currency, players such as Delta Corporation Limited and Econet Wireless Zimbabwe have failed to access adequate amounts. Experts blame this on the huge confidence deficit in government.
“We have controlled the money supply which is important to control inflation. We have also adopted all these policies. At the end of the day, we now have both the fiscal and monetary policy,” Moyo said.
“We hope that with these measures now, foreign currency is gradually going to be made available; not for the people alone, but also for the power and fuel shortages. I can assure you that very soon, load-shedding is going to be a thing of the past,” he added.
