Staff Reporter
The Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFSE) is expected to drive domestic and international investments and will stand shoulder to shoulder with the world’s best in providing a window of investments to the country and the rest of the world.
This was said yesterday by President Emmerson Mnangagwa during the official opening of the VFSE and the listing of Caledonia Mining Corporation (CMC) in the resort town of Victoria Falls.
“The VFSE is expected to drive domestic and international investments, which are a key requirement for the attainment of our vision of a prosperous and empowered upper middle income economy by 2030. It is my expectation that the VFSE will stand shoulder to shoulder with the world’s best in providing a window of investment, not just into Zimbabwe, but into the rest of Africa,” said President Mnangagwa.
The President added that the Government was committed to promoting VFSE into an integral part of the global financial architecture. He further applauded the recent signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the VFSE and the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange with the view to establishing a commodities exchange.
President Mnangagwa further said that the signed MOU would result in enhanced price transparency for the local minerals and better value retention by the local small scale miners. He added that the venture will further spur on-going efforts towards the attainment of the US$12 billion mining industry by 2023.
The President informed that the Government had already put in place a number of incentives that will stimulate new listings. He added that the incremental export incentive scheme that was put in place by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), sought to boost production and productivity while accelerating the sustainable growth of export revenue and encourage listing and participation of firms on the VFSE.
President Mnangagwa said that the listing by CMC onto the VFSE marks the third listing on the new exchange within a space of just over a year. He said that the listing was a sure sign of the confidence that investors were placing in the policies of the Second Republic, considering that CMC was also listed in the USA and UK.
VFSE commenced its operation last year in October, marking the Government’s commitment towards establishing an Offshore Financial Services Centre in Victoria Falls.
