Zimpapers Logo

Grace Mahora-Herald Reporter

The “Buy Zimbabwe” campaign has helped drive a robust private sector-led initiative resulting in increased local products and creation of jobs, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has said.

He said this during the Buy Zimbabwe Annual Awards in Harare recently, adding that the campaign to buy local products was at the centre of the national development matrix of achieving Vision 2030.

“Since its establishment in 2011, Buy Zimbabwe has pioneered the robust private sector led initiative to increase local content, create jobs and wealth as well as foster pride in Zimbabwean products,” said Prof Ncube. 

“The drive towards sustainable local production is an onerous, but achievable task that is the centrepiece of the National Development Strategy 1 and Vision 2030.

“Their campaign is at the centre of our development matrix that targets achieving an upper middle income status in eight years’ time under Government’s Vision 2030.”

Prof Ncube said Government was aware of the critical role of private sector-led initiatives in promoting sustainable economic growth and was implementing interventions to increase local production of products across all sectors.

He said the manufacturing sector is presently benefiting from the resuscitation and strengthening of existing value chains and the development of new value chains as well as mineral beneficiation and local processing of agricultural output.

Plans are now advanced for the setting up of value addition plants for platinum and steel in the mining sector, added Prof Ncube.

The Government is targeting the agro-processing value chains which include soya bean, cotton, leather and fertiliser value, with a view to promoting local value addition.

Said Prof Ncube: “We are also happy to report that the percentage of goods in our supermarket shelves continues to rise and currently over 75 percent of shelf products are locally-produced.

“We are implementing measures to support and resuscitate various companies so that they move up the capacity utilisation line from current thresholds of 45 percent to 60 percent by 2025.

“Our vision is not only to value add but to be able to produce locally the plant and machinery that is used in production. This will also save on foreign currency used to import the equipment.”

Prof Ncube said Zimbabwe needed to move away from becoming a conduit for exporting local jobs by exporting raw materials and agricultural produce.

Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Sekai Nzenza called on citizens to embrace locally produced commodities.

“I just want to take this opportunity for this collaboration that has happened between the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Ministry of Finance and Buy Zimbabwe. This will focus on local production to increase a private sector growth,” she said.