Govt, private sector find common ground

GOVERNMENT and the private sector have found common ground towards transforming the country’s economy and going forward the two parties have resolved to speak with one voice on matters of business.

In a statement issued after Monday’s candid engagement between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and business leaders at State House in Harare, the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services said the high-level dialogue yielded positive results for economic progress.

“There was a lot of listening happening today (Monday) as speaker after speaker gave their views on the state of our economy, the causes and the way forward,” said the ministry.

“The threading link between all speakers was that: despite current challenges, Zimbabwe’s economy was expanding, and therefore there is a higher demand for foreign currency.

“That messages from Government must be in sync and consistent, that Government needs to control its fiscal expenditure as a matter of priority in order to reduce fiscal imbalances. The meeting agreed that both Government and the private sector should find each other and speak with one voice.”

The ministry said the gathering noted that there were many projects currently in progress in Zimbabwe, which needed to be given visibility and encouraged Zimbabweans to pull in one direction to foster development.

During the engagement, there were also presentations made by some in the service industry over the need to modernise the country’s taxation laws.

The delegates also noted the benefits of Command Agriculture, a specialised import substitution farming programme driven by the private sector.

“The President also said the days when Government made decisions without consulting were behind us. The President encouraged everyone saying we cannot run away from our challenges as a nation, we will restructure, reform and build our economy,” said the ministry.

This is in keeping with His Excellency’s philosophy of “servant leadership”, which is a leadership that customs, engages and is responsive.

Meanwhile, the ministry said Government has put in place measures meant to alleviate commodity shortages in the market as the country gears for the start of the festive season. The initiatives, which include the opening up of borders for importation of basic commodities, come on the back of recent unjustified price increases, panic buying and hoarding that was fuelled by obscene parallel market exchange rates.

“We can assure the nation that Government is seized with and implementing solid plans to ensure that the increased demand for forex will be met,” it said.

The breakfast engagement was attended by bankers, captains of industry, as well as consumers’ representatives.

Among these were leaders from the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (ZCI), the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC), the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ), Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ), Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ), Business Excellence of Zimbabwe, miners associations and several stakeholders in the economy.

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