BUSINESS REPORTER
President Emmerson Mnangagwa will next Friday meet the business community to discuss the economic headwinds that have characterised the economy over the past years to bring long-lasting solutions to the ailing economy.
The crunch meeting comes at a time when the economy is battling rising cost of living, power cuts, swelling exchange rate, foreign shortages, liquidity crunch, and lack of patient capital.
Mnangagwa will meet with over 500 business leaders, Cabinet Ministers, investors, diplomats, parastatal heads, and State Owned Enterprises.
The Summit organiser, Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) president Denford Mutashu told Business Times that this will be an interactive platform where the private sector and Mnangagwa will deliberate on all matters impacting business and the economy at large.
“The essence of this high-level business summit is to highlight to the President the opportunities and threats in the business environment and seek requisite government intervention to assist businesses to continue growing.
“The summit will focus mainly on the following economic sectors; agribusiness – agriculture, manufacturing and distribution, energy, infrastructure, mining and exports, financial services and investment and tourism,” Mutashu said.
He said this high-level business summit will provide a special engagement meeting with the President who will interact with businesses on these important economic matters with delegates drawing from the aforementioned economic sectors. Zimbabwe is grappling with high inflation at around 244% as of December.
The authorities have a mammoth task to reduce inflation to reasonable figures. The exchange rate remains problematic for the central bank as the official rate stands at ZWL$801 per US$1 from ZWL$655 per US$1 on December 1, 2022.
The parallel market rate stands at ZWL$ 1200 per US$1 from US$850 on December 1, 2022.
Economist and the summit organising committee member, Eddie Cross said the preparations have gone well as experts from different sectors are ready to air their concerns and probable solutions.
“The business community is concerned with the high inflation rate and swelling exchange which are making it very difficult to sustain operations and plan properly. With the crunch meeting expected next Friday, concrete solutions should be realised to record considerable growth going forward,” Cross said.
Mnangagwa’s summit comes at a time when the crippling power crisis that has hit the country is threatening the whole economy where observers say millions of dollars could have been lost due to the debilitating shortages.
So devastating are the power cuts that the government is in panic mode and working frantically to find a lasting solution which is unlikely soon as neighbouring countries that usually provide electricity including Zambia and South Africa are also facing challenges.
Mutashu said energy is a key enabler in growing businesses and the economy as a whole and there is a need “to come up with a solution on how energy availability can help the country to attain Vision 2030”.
Some of the organising executive members include Emmanuel Fundira, Busisa Moyo, Tafadzwa Musarara Alex Mhembere, and Alois Burutsa.
