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Conrad Mwanawashe : Business Reporter

BARCLAYS Bank Zimbabwe managing director George Guvamatanga says Zimbabweans should go through a paradigm shift and focus more on manufacturing instead of importing products that can be produced in the country. This would reduce the import bill which reached $6 billion last year and in the process alleviate pressure on cash.Reduced demand for cash would mean that there will not be cash shortage as being experienced currently.

In a keynote address at the Barclays/ Building Opportunities on Student Talent (BOOST) Partnership Launch on Wednesday, Mr Guvamatanga told young entrepreneurs that Zimbabweans are importing products that are available locally, putting further strain on liquidity in the country.

Zimbabwe is currently facing cash shortages as a result of over reliance on imports compared to fewer exports, a situation that has led to cash shortages.

“We are having cash shortages because we are a nation that it is consuming more than it is producing. If you are importing more than you are exporting it means that as a country you are spending more money than what you have.

“So if you imports are $6 billion, that is what our imports were in Zimbabwe in 2015 and exports of $3 billion, it means that you have a shortage of cash.

“But what exactly are we importing? We are importing everything from cars, expensive whisky, Blue Label, Black Label, expensive wine and we even go to the extent of importing water. But that’s not the worst of it all,” said Mr Guvamatanga.

In a bid to plug the importation of locally available products, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, working with bankers and industry has drawn up a priority list for imports.

This list prioritises products that are not locally available, this to discourage shipping out of money unnecessarily.

Instead, business should be looking at manufacturing most of the products that are pushing up imports.

“From a business perspective we should be thinking of manufacturing the things that we are spending $6 billion on. If you go to the retail outlets today you will see imported sweet potatoes and vegetables,” he said.

Barclays Bank Zimbabwe officially handed over $68 197,50 to the BOOST Fellowship organisation for the Business Incubation Project aimed at helping young business entrepreneurs to prosper. The project will provide business incubation services for youth SME owners so that their businesses and ideas can be accelerated and systematised, thereby creating successful enterprises.

The young entrepreneurs are provided with a comprehensive and integrated range of support, including, but not limited to business support services, clustering and networking opportunities as well as technical services and finance raising strategies.

The programme will encourage and empower youths to take advantage of emerging opportunities in technology to ignite and develop innovative ideas that solve real social challenges thereby developing a culture of local solutions for local problems.

Mr Guvamatanga challenged the young entrepreneurs to investigate what is being imported and then manufacture those products to fill the gap.

“What I urge you to do is to go into the shops and compile a list of all the products that we are importing which we can make locally, that’s your business opportunity,” said Mr Guvamatanga.