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MInister Bimha

Golden Sibanda Senior Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT says it will mobilise fresh low cost funding to support selected critical areas of the manufacturing industry whose goods are protected by the provisions of Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016.

Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha said that possible measures included enlarging the Distressed Industrial and Marginalised Areas Fund and reviving the Zimbabwe Economic and Trade Revival Facility.

“The support measures in terms of SI 64 of 2016 are only a component of broad interventions that we are implementing to ensure that our industry grows and is able compete,” Minister Bimha said on Friday.

He made the remarks after meeting South Africa Minister of Industry and Trade on Thursday Rob Davies last week to discuss issues on trade and economic cooperation, including recent import control measures by Zimbabwe.

Minister Bimha said the understanding is that while there is capacity within the domestic manufacturing industry to produce the bulk of products the country is importing, funding remains the biggest constraint.

“This time the funds will not be there for everyone, but will target critical sectors that are supported through SI 64,” he said. Zimbabwe believes the average import bill of $6 billion, against exports of about $3,5 billion, is not sustainable and is a threat to local firms.

Statutory instrument 64 of 2016 removed a total of 42 products from the open general import licence, restricting their importation into Zimbabwe, as it was felt that local industry has the capacity to produce them.

It regulates importation of coffee creamers, camphor creams, white petroleum jellies body lotions, builder ware such as wheel barrows, structures and parts of structures of iron or steel bridges and bridge sections, lock gates, lattice masts, roof and roof frameworks, doors, furniture and parts thereof and metal furniture of steel kitchen units among others. Indications are that SI 64 will run for between two and three years. The full list contains 42 products Government contends the local manufacturing industry can produce and has taken measures to control imports to give the industry time and space to retool and acquire new technology. Industrial capacity utilisation is currently estimated at 34 percent. Minister Bimha said the decision to restrict imports was taken in terms of World Trade Organisation trade rules and the Southern Africa Development Community trade protocols, are available to any country that feels that the surge in imports negatively affects the survival of its industry.

There now is strong belief in Government that, on the evidence of the positive impact of the $40 million DIMAF facility, which helped revive the fortunes of companies such as Cairns Holdings, a bigger and more accessible DIMAF could help reposition a number of industrial companies.