ZNCC calls for policy consistency

CLOUDINE MATOLA 

The Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) has  urged  the  government to ensure that there is policy consistency   and   creation of an environment  that is conducive to business, Business Times can report.

The ZNCC president, Mike Kamungeremu, emphasized the significance of putting policies in place that support fair and sustainable industrial growth.

Speaking to Business Times on the sidelines of  the ZNCC  business conference  held in the capital last week, Kamungeremu said: “…What is critical is policy consistency. This is what business people are crying for. They need to know what policies are in place and they need to be clear in terms of the future.”

He added: “They (Government) must simply create an enabling environment. In terms of service provision and infrastructure development we want good roads, among many others. Those are the things that businesses want. They want an enabling environment in which they will be able to do their business without fear and then they can sell their products and make money and pay taxes to the government at the end of the day.”

Kamungeremu stated that the majority of businesses were also having trouble obtaining bank loans.

“There was uncertainty about that.  The (tenure)  of the multicurrency was extended from 2025 to 2030 and this is a one key policy because you will find all banks not lending beyond 2025. It was very difficult for businesses  to get capital. Now that the extension has been granted, we have not received feedback as yet but we expect banks to start lending until that time,” Kamungeremu said.

Kamungeremu also urged the government  to refrain from  competing  with businesses.

“Critically business want the government to be a regulator and they should play a role of regulator in everything that we are doing, not for them to also compete with business. We gave an example of the insurance sector, where there are insurance companies that are making a lot of money from third party insurance. So if government takes it away, it is more like they are being crowded out of the space so business feel that government must not really get in there,” he said.

Captains of industry  also suggested  that  the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) should encourage local banks to provide  reasonable interest rates  for credit to businesses  now that the multi-currency regime has been extended.

“Given that the uncertainty regarding the use of multicurrency regime has been cleared through the extension of the regime to 2030, the central bank should encourage local banks to offer affordable credit especially to the productive sector in both local and foreign currency,” reads part of the ZNCC report.

They further stated that since the nation is in desperate need of patient  but affordable capital, efforts should be made to pay off outstanding external debt and resume re-engagement  with international creditors.

Furthermore, they said  electricity should  be available continuously. In particular, the government needs to make every effort to guarantee that the nation has an adequate supply of electricity.