President meets PAC President Mnangagwa

Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
President Mnangagwa yesterday took a break from his vacation to meet representatives of the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) where he outlined Government’s vision for 2020 geared towards increased productivity and economic growth. The meeting, which lasted over an hour-and-a-half, was held at his Munhumutapa Offices at the request of PAC who were represented by Messrs Joe Mtizwa and Edwin Manikai, while a number of ministers overseeing economic ministries attended the meeting.

These include Professor Mthuli Ncube, (Finance and Economic Development), Winston Chitando (Mines and Mining Development), Foreign Affairs and International Trade (Dr Sibusiso Moyo) and Dr Sekai Nzenza (Industry and Commerce).

Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications) Mr George Charamba yesterday said the President had laid out plans which the Government had for the economy.

“Before the President left for his annual leave there was a request from members of PAC to meet with him so that he gives them their marching orders for 2020 and by marching orders I mean the Government’s vision by way of programmes, by way of policies and by way of priorities with a view that when they have their own inaugural meeting to be held around mid-February, they will work within the parameters of Government’s policies and Government thinking. So the President had to break from his vacation to meet the representatives of PAC.

“Basically, what the President said was that 2019 was a year of reforms and liberalisation of the economy and that 2020 is the year we need to build on the reforms we did in 2019 so that we then move the country forward.

“That means the emphasis is going to be on productivity as well as growth and Productivity and growth means the infrastructure must be in place, it means the enablers by way of energy and fuel must be in place and more critically that sector policies are very clear, internally consistent and coherent and mutually reinforced towards the broader objective of growing the economy,” Mr Charamba said.

He said the President had also emphasised that the focus on productivity should include international trade.

“He also emphasised that whilst last year’s emphasis was on reforms and liberalisation, this year must see us emphasising industrial output and linked to that is import substitution, meaning we must compress our imports and stimulate our exports,” he said.

“The President then drew to the attention of the PAC representatives that of the 34 advisories they issued last year, there was one area they overlooked and that area has to do with international trade. He said 2020 must see them (PAC) casting their eyes towards international trade so that Zimbabwe can develop markets, gear itself for exports, import technologies that will facilitate value addition and thereby underpin growth of exports.”

Mr Charamba said the meeting also recognised recent projections of economic growth by the World Bank following the drought induced down-turn experienced last year.

The World Bank has projected that Zimbabwe’s economy will grow by 2,7 percent this year, from a negative growth of 7 percent in 2019.

“This means it will be a phenomenal recovery and this on the back of reforms that we have put in place and the firming of commodity prices, particularly in the mining sector. So really the prospects are very good and what we all need to do is sharpen our focus and ensure that there is increased productivity,” he added.

The Presidential spokesperson said the meeting also discussed the role of the financial sector especially the work of the Monetary Policy Committee set up last year.

He said the meeting had recognised what the MPC had done to stabilise the exchange rate through the harmonisation of policies between the fiscal and the monetary side.

“So the emphasis was that let’s maintain currency stability and let’s ensure that inflation keeps coming down. So that’s what happened today. It was an hour-and-a-half long meeting and a very fruitful meeting,” Mr Charamba said.

He said the PAC representative had raised concern over incidences of violence involving machete gangs.

“The PAC representatives expressed their concern over the escalation of violence in the country, particularly around the artisanal miners and urged the Government to take a strong position in stamping out that menace which can threaten the recovery of the economy,” Mr Charamba said.

President Mnangagwa established the 26-member PAC in January last year to assist and advise him in formulating key economic policies.

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