The Sunday News
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
THE insurance and pensions industry in Zimbabwe has been urged to tap into the various investment opportunities available in the country, a move that will have positive impact to the economy in line with the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).
To highlight these investment opportunities the Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) hosted a joint webinar with the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) on Wednesday.
IPEC Commissioner, Dr Grace Muradzikwa said the insurance and pensions industry was one of the largest local investment blocks, in most countries.
“As the regulator, one of our mandates is to develop the insurance and pensions industry, through working with the industry to identify growth opportunities for the benefit of policyholders and fund members, and making an impact to the economy in line with NDS1.”
She said local investors reinvest their profits in the local economy, remain loyal to their country even when things go wrong, and also create employment opportunities for their children and grandchildren.
Dr Muradzikwa said to complement the mantra ‘Zimbabwe is Open for Business’, it was key to strengthen and capacitate local investors like insurance companies and pension funds who have the wherewithal to invest in some of the sectors in Zimbabwe.
She added: “In line with President ED Mnangagwa’s mantra: “Nyika Inovakwa nevene vayo”, local investors should be availed opportunities to invest in strategic sectors so that they can develop our economy and the country at large.
Dr Muradzikwa said already, the industry has shown its appetite to invest in the country, as evidenced by its investment in various sectors among them the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, energy, housing, agriculture, roads, health, mining and many other sectors.
Presenting on investment opportunities for the insurance and pensions industry in Zimbabwe, ZIDA acting chief executive officer, Mrs Duduzile Shinya said the main categories of investment include Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and general investments.
“The main categories of investment include PPPs, Special Economic Zones and general investments. In its simplest form, a PPP is a contractual arrangement between Government (or any of its agencies) and the private sector to deliver a project or to provide services.
“ZIDA has the responsibility of assessing all PPP’s before presenting these to the PPP Committee which is Chaired by the Permanent Secretary for Finance and Economic Development, before recommending to Cabinet,” said Mrs Shinya.
“SEZ refers to a geographically demarcated and secured area, within which multi-sectoral business investments are conducted, under a liberal legislative framework and also enjoying certain fiscal and non-fiscal incentives. While, general investments these are investments wherein private investors deploy their capital in chosen projects without a requirement for partnership with government or any of its entities.”
She said ZIDA’s role could broadly be described as promoting, planning and implementing investment promotion strategies, facilitating entry and implementation of investment projects and operation of the One Stop Investment Services Centre among others.
Mrs Shinya investment options included prescribed assets, stock markets, real estate, infrastructure, money market and Mosi-oa-tunya gold coins.
While in terms of opportunities, Mrs Shinya told the insurance and pensions industry that they could tap into agriculture, mining, tourism, infrastructure, student accommodation, health, transport, creative industry, manufacturing, knowledge economy and information, communication and technology (ICT) among others.
