The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Business Reporter
FINANCE and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has expressed dismay at the slow uptake of Government’s stimulus package aimed at cushioning businesses from the effects of Covid-19 and lockdown.
Speaking at a meeting with the Bulawayo business community at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Exhibition Centre last Friday, Prof Ncube said the number of distressed firms that had accessed the stimulus package was appalling. Prof Ncube announced a $18,02 billion stimulus package on 4 May and in June, came up with the modalities for accessing the facilities.
“Generally, the private sector is a little bit slow in coming to us to request support from the stimulus package. We are inviting you (businesses) to come forward. We want you to be proactive in making sure we support you to resuscitate the economy. This (stimulus package) is a present to you in terms of resuscitating the economy, that’s what we are doing as policy makers,” he said.
Prof Ncube also said the Value Added Tax (VAT) exemption on tourism products offered to locals, which is part of measures to nurse the sector back to health after over two months of Covid-19-induced closure would soon be enacted as a policy.
“I hope this tax incentive will go a long way in ensuring that domestic tourism picks up. In another two weeks I will be putting into law, an Amendment to the Finance Bill so that this VAT exemption can be effected because we cannot do it through an SI (Statutory Instrument) but we have to do it through an Act of Parliament,” he said.
Prof Ncube further urged tourism players to start accessing the $500 million credit guarantee scheme.
He also noted that the outbreak of Covid-19 has presented Government with an opportunity to intensify its import substitution drive upon realisation that some of the products that had previously been imported into the country could actually be manufactured locally.
“There is a need to support import substitution. Covid-19 is presenting some of the opportunities because of the closure of borders or rather slow access to raw material, this is what we call the disruption of the global value chains. There is a need to produce some of the materials locally and there is potential for some of the companies to do this locally,” said Prof Ncube.
He said as part of ensuring import substitution his ministry was working on coming up with a value-chain intervention group.
“I’m very keen to set up a value chain intervention group between the private sector and the Government. I want to know what we can substitute sector by sector and what we as Government ought to do to support that value chain intervention . . . I’m affirming that Government is committed to this value chain, localisation, import substitution . . . ,” he said. – @DNsingo
