(HERALD) Dollarise economy completely: ZNCC
Dollarise economy completely: ZNCCNew Ziana.
THE Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce said last week the economy should be completely dollarised to improve operations of industry.
ZNCC president Mr Obert Sibanda said the immediate measure required to resuscitate the industry was to grant all companies licences to trade in foreign currency.
"We have to accept the economy has been dollarised and all companies should be registered to trade in hard currency," he said.
It was important, he noted, for the country to adopt holistic approaches for the industry to prosper.
"The revitalisation of the economy in 2009 rests on concrete solutions that must be created by all stakeholders," he said.
"We no longer need piecemeal solutions," he added.
Mr Sibanda said industries had been operating below capacity and faced shortages of raw material and foreign currency.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe last year partially dollarised the economy, granting over 1 000 firms licences to trade in foreign currency.
The economy has, however, illegally fully dollarised with almost all sectors now charging in foreign currency.
"Stakeholders need to engage and stop the blame game if 2009 is to be a better year for business," he said.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Mr Kumbirayi Katsande earlier said a solution to the current political impasse would greatly aid business.
"The performance of industries this year will be determined by the finality of a political settlement between the three major political parties," he said.
"The formation of an inclusive Government will unlock all sectors as the current political impasse has impacted heavily on the manufacturing sector," he added.
Western-imposed sanctions have seen most industries reeling from shortages of inputs and foreign currency. The scarcity of hard currency saw the unavailability of fuel, imported raw material and spares continuing to worsen last year.
His comments come after Industry and International Trade Minister Mr Obert Mpofu said early this week that requests by local companies to pay workers in foreign currency were reasonable although appropriate measures need to be taken to ensure sustained inflow of hard currency.
"The idea of paying people in foreign currency is not unreasonable," he said.
"But there is need for all stakeholders to find an appropriate mechanism of going about it," he added.
Mr Mpofu said the Government should ensure that there was a stable inflow of foreign currency into the country so that it could be able to pay civil servants in forex.
Meanwhile, partial dollarisation of the economy is reported to be crippling the operations of small and medium enterprises most of whom are now finding the going very tough.
Officials in the sector said on Wednesday that it had become very expensive for SMEs to buy materials required for their various production processes as they were being charged in foreign currency.
A senior official from the Small Enterprises Development Corporation confirmed there was little activity at most SME premises.
"The SMEs are not trading because of the dollarisation of the economy," said the official.
"At the moment, there is very little activity."
Some officials involved in lending to the sector said there was virtually no business as no one was coming to borrow the local currency.
"There is no point in the SMEs coming to the banks to borrow large sums of money in local currency when you find that they are being charged virtually everything needed in the production process in foreign currency," said a bank official who requested anonymity.
Sedco has also indicated that it was facing difficulties as it survives on funds from the fiscus. — New Ziana.
posted by MrK @ 7:31 AM
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