Industrialists
welcome President�s speech
Walter Muchinguri in Harare
INDUSTRY and commerce
have welcomed President Mugabe�s speech on Tuesday during the opening of the
Fourth Session of the Fifth Parliament of Zimbabwe in which he touched on a
number of measures aimed at solving the
country's economic problems.
Several economists commended the
Government for
taking an initiative to address the economic challenges
facing the country.
Some of the issues raised included the reduction
of nterest rates, stemming the
externalisation of foreign currency earnings mainly by
exporters and the introduction of the Securities Bill and the Money Laundering
and Proceeds of Crime Bill.
The issue that received a lot of support was the
allocation of a 20 percent stake by companies to their employees.
Zimbabwe
National Chamber of Commerce economist, Mr James Jowa hailed the President
for raising the issue
of employee share ownership and the plans to encourage the business linkages concept
while also promoting cluster initiatives in order to
assist SMEs development.
�We
have been advocating for employees ownership for some time now under the
context of the Employee Share Ownership policy which was mooted about three
years ago but what has been lacking
is the commitment to implement the policy.
�Now that the President has
mentioned it, we hope that there would be action on the part of the legislators
and other parties concerned,� he said.
On the issue of the establishment of
an Anti-Corruption Commission Bill to stem the externalisation of foreign
currency, Mr Jowa said although the issue was topical,
there was not much exporting taking place in the country.
He said there was need to
rebuild confidence in the
official system first as a way of enticing exporters to export and remit
their foreign currency earnings.
�As things stand, there is not enough
confidence in the
official system and that is why the country can not
attract direct foreign investment,�
he said.
Other commentators said the President�s speech was
welcome as it gave a policy direction to the incoming
governor of the Reserve Bank who is due to take office next month.
The
governor is yet to be appointed.
�There is no way that the incoming governor
would say that he would not lower interest rates when the President has said
so,� said another economist.
However, Trust Bank�s chief economist, Mr David
Mupamhadzi said the reduction of rates would not achieve the intended purposes
but would continue to compound problems in the
country.
Mr Mupamhadzi said it was not prudent to lower interest rates at a time when
savings have been virtually wiped out because of the low interest rates regime
that currently
prevail.
�We have no savings at the moment and in the absence f direct foreign investment in the
country, the Government has to rely on domestic savings.
�However, you do not
encourage domestic savings by
lowering rates because you need to put in place incentives to encourage
people to save their money,�
he said.
Mr Mupamhadzi said while the issues raised by the
President were important, the most immediate issue was the introduction of new measures to
contain inflation.
�We can talk of various variables but central to all these
is the need to contain inflation because if that is contained then all the other
things would fall into place.
�We can lower interest rates but this will not
help in
a highly inflationary environment. While I am cognisant of the fact that
it is necessary to support the productive sector through low interest rates,
this should be for a limited period only,� he said.
Other economists said
although intentions by the Government to recapitalise the National Railways of Zimbabwe were
noble, the measure should be followed
by policies that ensure the viability of the railway concern.
�NRZ should be allowed to
charge realistic prices for services. Exporters must be charged in foreign
currency,� said one of the economists.
In
his address, President Mugabe also noted the need
to map the way forward for people resettled under the land reform programme and to
provide support for the
sector.
The
Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in
anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans
l'anarchie"
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