Economy under spotlight as Govt, industry meet

CAPTAINS of industry, policymakers and analysts will converge in Harare on Thursday to discuss the economic outlook for 2024, as the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) hosts its annual Economic and Business Outlook Symposium.

The meeting comes as the country’s economic growth is expected to slow to 3,5 percent this year, from 4,5 percent last year, on the back of lower agricultural output due to below-normal rainfall caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

Some of the expected speakers at this year’s edition are Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Sithembiso Nyoni, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mangudya and Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe chief executive officer Dr Isaac Kwesu.

Other notable participants will be World Bank senior country economist in Zimbabwe Mr Victor Steenbergen, agribusiness specialist Dr Reneth Mano and economist Mr Joseph Mverecha, among others.

CZI chief executive officer Ms Sekai Kuvarika said: “The way we traditionally host the economic outlook symposium is that it follows key policy pronouncements.

“It follows the pronouncement of the fiscal policy, as well as the monetary policy, which basically sets the policy environment tone for the year.

“We hold the symposium to try and paint the scenarios of what these policies and the environment are likely to produce for business and for the economy in general.”

Business and industry are looking forward to hearing Government’s plan on the fiscal and monetary policy alignment this year, as well as on measures to arrest inflation and exchange rate volatility.

Other areas are the capital markets outlook, the listed entities outlook and the regional and global outlook’s implications for Zimbabwe.