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Albert Nhamoyebonde Business Correspondent
With the harmonised elections behind us, the topic for debate has been how to achieve economic growth. Political parties that lost the election, unfortunately, are not participating in this debate. One can understand that they are trying to regroup and find their feet.
As for Zanu-PF, the governing party, the serious business of fulfilling its mandate to the electorate demands that the party should seriously engage all players in the economy to see how economic growth can be achieved.

Herald Business has published some statistics to show how the economy has been performing since 2009 to 2013. Their reports reveal a decline in economic growth in most sectors of the economy. This means that, more workers have found themselves losing their jobs.
Some companies are actually at a standstill, with no appreciable production during the past four years.

How then can economic growth be achieved? Take, for example, Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries owned by the Government. It has been reported that the company has not assembled any cars for the last 12 months. Their workers are finding it difficult to make ends meet since it has been difficult for them to get paid their salaries. But the country is importing second-hand cars by the thousand each month. Ownership of these second-hand cars does not translate to economic growth. It is just overconsumption of imports which drains or exports money in circulation to other countries. But the sad thing is that, even Government and its parastatals are importing new cars instead of buying from WMMI.

If local companies cannot supply the Government with new cars, then there is something wrong about the principle of indigenisation of the economy. There is an organisation that is promoting the concept of buying local products instead of importing what is available locally.
Economic growth, therefore, can be achieved if companies, such as WMMI and others can supply the Government and parastatals with the vehicles they need. There will be jobs created in downstream industries that supply materials to local car assembly plants.

Another area where growth of the economy can be achieved is in the housing sector. The major problem is that there is no finance available from banks to fund the purchasing of houses. What is happening is that individuals are using their meagre earnings to build their own houses, a process that may take years.

Where individuals are building their own houses, they are digging boreholes to access water because the towns and cities have no capacity to supply the new dwellings with water. This cannot be classified as economic growth.

But the housing industry is regarded as a barometer for economic growth in developed countries, for the simple reason that, the growth of credit in this sector stimulates economic growth as banks make profits for their investors.

If investors make money, then there will be an increase in the buying power of the people. Government would collect more revenue to increase the pay for public sector workers, who in turn, will spend it to stimulate the economic activity.

Yes, it has been said many times that agriculture should underpin economic growth. Agriculture is a volatile industry, in the sense that, there are various factors involved that must be put in place. The supply of inputs on time, the labour intensity of the industry, the rainfall or irrigation facilities etc all impact on whether the sector could achieve economic growth measured by increased production.

Many factories that depend on agriculture products are idle due to low harvests. The large volumes of imports of edible agriculture products that fill the shelves of our supermarkets is a sign that there is a failure to supply locally grown products in the market.

Mining has been touted as the key to increased economic growth. What is not realised is that mining costs a lot of money to undertake. It has been reported that the Government may be earning just about US$4 in every US$100 from the sale of minerals.

It is not true that the earnings from minerals could fund public sector salaries. What should happen is that money generated from the sale of minerals could be used to underpin the growth of the private sector which will be used as a vehicle for economic growth and generating of jobs for increased output of production.

In an article in the Mail & Guardian, an economic analyst writes: “It is only by growing private sector enterprise, large and small, that the fiscus’ coffers can be fed. It is business that creates the sustainable jobs and the new industries this country so badly needs.”

It is true that the limiting factor in attracting local and foreign investment is the overhanging sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe for embarking on land resettlement programmes which has seen thousands of black households allocated a piece of land.

There can never be a compromise on the question of land. The land belongs to the State under the Constitution just as land in the UK is known as Crown land. Here it is known as State land. All investors, local or foreign, should have known what Government policy is on the question of land.

What should occupy policymakers is that, whatever the source of borrowed money, it must be paid back with interest. The culture of paying back loans will create a favourable climate of creditworthiness for the country and business. Economic growth can be achieved if loan payments are honoured.