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The modest fall in the cost of living over the last 12 months is welcomed by all Zimbabweans, since everyone gets the equivalent of a 2.7 percent pay rise without any changes to the numbers of their payslips, and because of the circumstances of the Zimbabwean economy there is no danger of deflation.

The fall in prices is largely driven by the decline of the rand and other major trading currencies against the US dollar and the increased efficiency of a growing number of Zimbabwean industries in an era of increased competition. Importers and manufacturers, in this very competitive environment, are passing on their savings to consumers.

The fall is only temporary. South Africa has a modest but positive rate of inflation, so prices in rand terms will rise. But other benefits, and principally the transformation of our industry, are permanent.

Some economists, who were complaining about high Zimbabwean prices compared to the region a couple of years ago, now worry about deflation. However, because internal debt levels are so low in Zimbabwe, and household debt is very low indeed, there are negligible adverse effects of a fall in prices. Demand is not falling and cash is not being hoarded; Zimbabweans immediately spend the little extra in their pockets as soon as they have it, in effect pushing up demand, and the amount of cash in circulation is rising, not falling.

Although the amount of the extra purchasing power is small it can make a difference. A small example is the general drop in the price of bread by 10c a loaf. A family buying a loaf a day now has an extra $3 a month, enough to buy a jar or tin of jam to put on that bread.

A declining group of industrialists whine about the increasing competition. But several large companies have accepted the challenge and have transformed their businesses, and are now making money again, and more are joining the list.

Protective tariffs are not the answer. Generally, they ossify an economy and give consumers little choice but to buy overpriced inferior goods that are also impossible to export. Growth stagnates. Free trade, especially for smaller countries like Zimbabwe, is the only way to grow an economy. Political leaders recognise this, which is why the treaty for the Tripartite Free Trade area, stretching across southern and east Africa from Cape to Cairo, was signed recently.

Those Zimbabwean companies who embraced the challenges of competition are the ones who will win with freer trade in the region. They have relearned the lesson that to win in business you must produce the correct quality at the correct price. And they are the ones who will win as trade barriers fall across the region.

All countries in the free trade area will benefit, but Zimbabwe is likely to be one of the bigger winners thanks to the crises of the last 20 years, the transformation of the economy now in progress, and our pool of managerial talent.

We now have a group of top business managers who know what they need to do to win, and that number is increasing as we see more and more men and women who benefited from the post-independence surge in education, have applied their education, gained experience in some interesting times and have a proven track record of seeing crises as a way to grow a business rather than as something to complain about. We can see external judgment of the best of these managers in those banks and companies with significant foreign ownership. The staff, from CEO down to learner cleaner are all Zimbabwean.

Zimbabweans have a tendency to complain about everything. Sometimes we need to look at how we are succeeding. Does anyone really want to return to the times of hyperinflation? Does anyone really want to return to the 1990s and before and the lack of choice and lack of quality so prevalent on our shelves?

There are still some things we have to do better, a higher domestic savings rate being one of them, but generally we are now building an economy for the future, not the past, and the modest, but still significant, fall in the cost of living is one of the first fruits of that beneficial transformation.