by Derick Tsimba
Government has spelt out that the year 2020 shall be a year of economic progress as the country moves out of austerity measures as the year is punctuated by a World Bank economic growth prediction of 2,7% . Going forward Government is looking at prioritising key economic measures aimed at stabilising the economy, the focus being on currency stability, power availability and food security.
As Government prioritises these three critical areas in 2020, it seeks to realign economic fundamentals so as to address the economic challenges the country is currently facing.
Zimbabwe has suffered much from many factors that have been affecting the economy chief among them the illegal sanctions whose adverse effects are being compounded by the effects of climate change. In 2019 the country received poor rainfall that has affected the 2019 to 2020 farming season. The El Nino induced drought also affected the 2018/19 farming season resulting in reduced water levels in the power generating dam, Kariba, leaving the country in a precarious in term of production to move the economy.
The country’s resources have also been drained through the effects of Cyclone Idai which affected parts of Zimbabwe in Manicaland and Mashonaland East. The tropical cyclone became the worst on record affecting the Southern parts of Africa resulting in enormous damage in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi. More than 1,300 people died and many went missing with thousands of families being affected.
Economic activities are still yet to normalise in the eastern and southern parts of Zimbabwe which mainly centred on farming and export activities. Government continues to ensure families are provided with basics and that they remain food secure until they are able to work for themselves.
Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube is on record through his Ministry that Government will ensure that its citizens have access to food, currency, basic commodities and availability of electricity.
Through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Government has started the process of arranging the prioritised economic fundamentals in the first quarter of 2020 setting aside resources to import commodities which include food, maize, wheat and soya-beans in order to meet the national demand.
Minister Ncube has also planned and has put aside resources meant to meet the food demands of Zimbabwean citizens between now and June and beyond that period.
The 2020 National Budget has also set aside $8, 5 billion to capacitate Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) for it to improve power supply.
Government intends to ensure that ZESA remains viable as the economy depends on power for productivity. Funding has been availed to ZESA for it to minimise power outages by importing power from the neighbouring countries, mainly South Africa and Mozambique when national power demand increases.
Soon the country should be a regional exporter of electricity as Government has accelerated the issuance of licences for the construction of solar and mini-hydro power stations across the country.
The Ministry of Finance intends to ensure the country’s currency maintains its value. The inter-bank exchange rate has remained stable for the past months and if the currency remains stable, the pricing process among the retailers and service providers should soon normalise from inflationary tendencies.
