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Ishemunyoro Chingwere Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT will accelerate the ease of doing business reforms in a bid to attract more foreign and domestic capital in the local economy, President Mnangagwa has said.

In his inauguration speech on Sunday, President Mnangagwa also noted that his term will be underlined by deliberate policies and strategies aimed at making Zimbabwe an upper middle income country by 2030.

The country’s ease of doing business environment has been improving since the coming in of the new dispensation in November last year with market watchers saying the resignation of former President Robert Mugabe, had also seen the country’s political risk improving by 50 percent.

“Internally, we will speed up the efforts to improve the ease and cost of doing business and economic competiveness,” said the President.

“Measures will be put in place to promote domestic savings in support of the national developmental agenda.

“Furthermore, necessary steps will be taken to create fiscal space through rationalisation and cost-cutting measures,” he said.

With elections having come and gone, the President said there is need for a shift of national focus towards rebuilding of the economy after years of regression.

Zimbabwe, he said will also be reviewing its Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (BIPAs) to makesure that they further Zimbabwe’s interests.

“Now that elections are behind us, we must now focus on addressing the economic challenges facing our country,” he said.

“To realise our vision and leapfrog our industrialisation and modernisation agenda, we will foster policies that attract both domestic and global capital.

“We will soon be reviewing the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements, to promote and encourage investments from across the world,” he said.

He added that efforts will be taken to expedite and bring to finality the resolution of the country’s external debt arrears, under the LIMA Plan.

President Mnangagwa has emphasised the ease of doing business reforms which his administration has pursued since his coming into power in November last year. To date, the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), has been on the fore front of implementing these under the Rapid Results Initiative.

This has seen the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) implementing such policies as incentivising local companies, especially those in the export business and export substitution.

RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya is on record saying the economy has been on a positive growth trajectory, particularly since November last year when President Mnangagwa was sworn-in, as evidenced by increased capacity utilisation and surging demand for fuel.