eBusiness Weekly
President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday said the country is on track to turnaround its economy next year buoyed by strong agriculture and mining sectors’ performance.
He said this in his maiden State of the Nation Address (SONA).
President Mnangagwa, who was sworn in on November 24, and immediately promised to transform the economy on the back of a strong performance of the agriculture sector and foreign direct investment, is adamant that there are brighter prospects next year.
“Prospects for 2018 remain favourable following a good 2017 agriculture season buttressed by agriculture financing of maize, wheat, small grains, tobacco, cotton, livestock, fisheries production and wildlife conservation under the Command Agriculture programmes.
“Hence the economy is focused to grow in 2018 supported by the rebound in agriculture and mining. The steady growth in the mining sector continues to be primarily driven by substantial output of gold, nickel, platinum, chrome and coal, among other minerals,” said President Mnangagwa.
In the mining sector, artisanal gold miners have become instrumental in the rising deliveries of the yellow metal to Fidelity Printers and Refiners – the gold buying unit of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
The President commended artisanal miners, particularly in the gold sector, who have positively responded to facilities and incentives extended by Government.
Incentives such as the Gold Development Initiative, through which $54,3 million had been disbursed to artisanal miners by August 31, have helped in pushing up gold production.
Artisanal gold miners have contributed 51 percent of the 20 tonnes of gold delivered to FPR by October 31, compared to 49 percent produced by primary producers, which are highly mechanised.
President Mnangagwa urged miners to be responsible as they execute their duties, to ensure the environment is not degraded.
But more importantly, the President also expressed concern over the continued leakage of precious minerals, prejudicing the country of the much needed foreign currency.
“It is quite disconcerting that the fiscus continues to be robbed of potential income due to rampant smuggling of gold across our borders by a network of local and foreign criminal syndicates.
“To deal with the matter, Government is going to capacitate the responsible agents and stop the porous nature of borders and those involved in such criminal activities stand warned, and will face full wrath of the law and I mean it.”
The country is said to have lost close to $1 billion through smuggling of minerals across country’s porous borders.
Market watchers are optimistic that the economy will turnaround next year spurred by a raft of policies that Government has put in place.
Chief among the policies is the decision to abandon the 51 /49 percent shareholding structure which was enshrined in the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act.
Finance and Economic Planning Minister Patrick Chinamasa announced the 51 /49 requirement would only remain in effect in the extractive sector.
Government has said the diamond and platinum sectors are the only ones that will comply with the former indigenisation percentages.
CZI president Sifelani Jabangwe told The Herald Business that 2018 will be a good year for the economy due to surge in exports and decrease in imports.
“Given the surge in mining and agriculture exports so far, we expect the trade deficit to go down next year . . . 2018 will be fairly good year as far as economic growth is concerned on the backdrop of agriculture’s 12 percent growth and continuous commodity prices firming.
“The 2018 Budget Strategy Paper proposes targeting halving the budget deficit to 4 percent of GDP, and subsequently move to a balanced budget by 2020.”
