The Sunday News
ZIMBABWE has imported goods worth more than $18 billion in the last five years and lost the potential to create at least 90 000 jobs due to the continued reliance on the exports, an official has said.
Speaking in Bulawayo last week during the Mine Entra conference, Buy Zimbabwe chief executive officer Mr Munyaradzi Hwengwere said Zimbabwe should endeavour to procure goods locally and create employment.
“At global level, as Buy Zimbabwe we aggregated and realised that over the past five years alone Zimbabwe has taken out $18 billion. By the way, Zimbabwe’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the moment is $10 billion and since 1980 as a country our debt is about $10 billion but just over the last five years we have $18 billion that had gone out,” said Mr Hwengwere.
“That money could have been used to create like 18 companies each employing 5 000 workers. We have taken out of this country at least 90 000 jobs and those are the facts.”
Speaking at the same occasion Chamber of Mines chief executive Mr Isaac Kwesu said there was a need for mining companies and the industry to engage and map a forward on how they could support each other.
“There is need to conduct a capability gap assessment involving a more comprehensive survey of industry capabilities in Zimbabwe and identify binding constraints and priority areas were capability can be cost effectively supported,” said Mr Kwesu.
“Let’s also undertake a survey of the expected future demand for the mining companies to inform supplier’s decision on whether to invest in expanding the capacity.
“There is need a multi stakeholder initiative to establish a forum for collecting and disseminating information that can be used to identify existing opportunities and requirements for suppliers.”
Reports say the country’s imports continue to outpace exports as the country continues to lose competitiveness due to the strengthening of the United States dollar against the currencies of Zimbabwe’s major trading partners.
Trade statistics produced by ZimStats showed that in January, the total exports were $267 million against imports of $538 million resulting in a current account deficit of $271 million, reflecting a 29,6 percent increase in the deficit.
Imports increased by 10,5 percent while exports shrunk by four percent.
According to ZimStats, the major contributors to imports bill in January 2015 remain fuel, medicaments, motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts, capital goods and fertiliser.
