LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
Business leaders in Zimbabwe want the government to remove policy constraints to attract foreign direct investments amid concerns the country’s ease of doing business remains a challenge.
Industry is calling for the removal of a number of statutory instruments that show policy inconsistency and make investment difficult in the country.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president Kurai Matsheza told Business Times that a lot needs to be done on policy formulations to attract investment.
“One of the major reasons it is difficult to attract financiers to Zimbabwe is also related to the difficult business environment which makes Zimbabwe a high-risk country to do business in,” he said.
“These obvious impediments to formal business create clear risks that scare away potential financiers,” he added.
“The policy environment should ensure that the ease of doing business is prioritised, which would see the removal of all policy constraints that threaten the smooth operations of the business.”
He said the willing buyer and willing seller and foreign currency auction exchange platforms have limited capacity to serve the businesses’ requirements and leaders can be arrested for buying foreign currency from alternative markets even if they are buying foreign currency to keep production going.
The business executive said the 2023 national budget should be centred on removing constraints for business operations as a way of making the business attractive for financing.
“In particular the National Competitiveness Commission should finalise the Regulatory Impact Assessment tool that they are working on for implementation on January 1 2023 to enable the tool to be used to streamline the ease of doing the business drive,” he said.
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers president Denford Mutashu said policy inconsistency weighs down local companies’ attractiveness.
“The Confederation calls on the government to implement measures that make Zimbabwean companies competitive locally, regionally and globally while also providing a fair and equal playing field among the different sectors of the economy as well as all retail and wholesale players,” he said.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president Mike Kamungeremu said the government should come up with a simplified tax regime that encourages the formalisation of businesses given the high level of informality in the economy.
“The Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) needs to be allocated adequate financial resources to allow it to digitalise and integrate its systems with other institutions such as the Registrar of Companies and ZIMRA. This will help in achieving the goal of a one-stop shop for investment,” he said.
“The National Competitiveness Commission should be capacitated to allow it to undertake in-depth research into the various factors impeding on the ease of doing business and competitiveness,” Kamungeremu said.
He said the authorities should address corruption at ports of entry.
So far the government has streamlined the border agencies as part of the measures to curb corruption at our ports of entry but business leaders expect more to be done.
“In this regard, ZIMRA should ensure the availability of adequate manpower/border officials to ease smooth passage and efficient clearing systems.
