The Sunday News
Business Reporter
THE success of the foreign currency auction system has shored up the establishment and growth of Small to Medium Enterprises and further increased chances of empowering locals.
The foreign currency auction system launched by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) in June last year with the aim of improving the availability of foreign currency to businesses as well as stabilise the Zimbabwean dollar has yielded fruitful results.
The introduction of the second auction system for small and medium enterprises in August last year was also a welcome move.
The auction system has allocated more than US$1,1 billion to various sectors of the economy for the procurement of imports.
Trading giants such as Delta, Masimba Construction, British American Tobacco (BAT) and Nampak have praised the auction system, which they say has gone some way to alleviate forex shortages that have slowed their operations.
In an interview, SME company Chemical Technology Africa director Mr Liberty Ncube attributed their expansion to the country’s economic stability.
He said the economic measures put in place by the Government have uplifted SMEs from operating from backyard places to setting up offices in the industrial sites.
“I would like to thank the Government because it made us to grow through workshops and getting us to work with bigger institutions and they also facilitated us to work with the National University of Science and Technology through the innovation hub.
“The policies that were put through by Minister of Finance and Economic Development Professor Mthuli Ncube made the process of buying our plant easy as we applied for forex through the auction system and we got it,” said Mr Ncube.
Mr Ncube said they were able to source equipment from outside the country through money from the auction system.
“We have so far managed to buy machinery from China and it came through.
“The Government is doing very well for us as SME’s because their policies are giving us opportunities as black young Africans in Zimbabwe to grow and also to diversify,” he said
“We are hoping that through the export initiatives they are coming up with we can be able to export and also benefit from it,” said Mr Ncube.
