Companies reduce working hours

As the foreign payments backlog grows, some local companies have started reducing workings hours due to shortage of raw materials, industrialists and employees have said.

Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Busisa Moyo said raw material shortages have rendered some workers redundant, resulting in companies introducing short working weeks.

Foreign payments are normally done 30 to 90 days after the invoice date, but there are instances where they have taken more than five months to go through. Moyo said while the situation might improve as a result of improved forex inflows from tobacco sales and the firming of commodity prices, most firms were in dire straits.