By Derick Tsimba
Government is ready to unlock funding to the business community and promote production, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Deputy Minister of Industry, Commerce and Enterprise Development Rajeshakumart Modi said this while addressing a Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) buyers-sellers business forum hosted by Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) today in Bulawayo.
“Government is concerned over the availability of funding for businesses to retool their competitiveness and compete in the global market. Government is helping to unlock value in the business community to ensure the availability of funds and the need to help to unlock value, the 2019 budget allocated finance to companies which want to unlock and expand in the market. Companies are being urged to utilize this money allocated to them.
“Government perspective is on industry financing to promote trade investment. We do need more funding and thank Botswana for extending finance for expansion of industries. Zimbabwe-Botswana Bilateral Commission lines to access funding are going to be concluded soon,” said the Deputy Minister.
The Deputy Minister also said exporting companies are going to be financed to compete on the export market.
“Afreximbank is going to finance exporting companies. We need to generate foreign currency to fund our imports. Exporting companies as my hope should remodel their products to be marketable.
“Government is supporting industries by establishment of an enabling environment to be concluded by offering a one stop shop investment centre and Special Economic Zones (SEZ). Bulawayo ZITF has been declared an economic zone. Our target is to get investment in SEZ to boost exports,” said the Minister.
The Deputy Minister also said his Ministry was involved in the development of the industries value chain to ensure competitiveness.
“Our Ministry is working on promoting development along the value chain, raw materials must be transformed into competitive goods by coming up with well finished products that are competitive on the global market. The key is to create an enabling environment that allows the flow of investment capital in and out of the country,” said the Deputy Minister.
This year’s theme for the CZI buyers-sellers business forum is “promoting trade and investment through business linkages”. The business forum is an opportunity for the business community to network and exchange information and marketing opportunities. Creation of a platform for buyers and sellers is critical for economic growth and development.
