Govt throws its weight behind Buy Zimbabwe

GOVERNMENT will complement the efforts by Buy Zimbabwe to promote growth and competitiveness in the country's local industry, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube has said.

Speaking at the 11th edition of the Buy Zimbabwe awards ceremony on Friday last week, Ncube applauded the efforts by Buy Zimbabwe to increase the availability of local goods and reduce imports.

"Buy Zimbabwe has pioneered the robust private sector-led initiative to increase local content, create jobs and wealth as well as foster pride in Zimbabwean products," Ncube said.

"Their campaign is at the centre of our development matrix that targets achieving an upper middle income status in eight years' time under government's Vision 2030."

The Treasury boss said he was happy that Buy Zimbabwe had partnered government in its campaigns for the promotion of production and consumptive preference of local products.

He pledged to complement the Buy Zimbabwe campaign by making budget allocations that are targeted at ensuring acceleration and deepening of the country's manufacturing value chains.

Ncube said the African Continental Free Trade Area presented a golden opportunity for the country's industrial sector to open up new markets if the right strategies are implemented timeously.

"The launch of the continental free trading zone in 2021 brings with it market opportunities as well as threats to Zimbabwean firms, if appropriate strategies are not implemented in time," he said.

Currently, the manufacturing sector is benefiting from the resuscitation and strengthening of existing value chains and the development of new value chains, hence the ministry will be implementing measures that will support and resuscitate various companies so that they move up their capacity utilisation from 45% to 60% by 2025.

Industry minister Sekai Nzenza concurred with Ncube, telling guests at the awards ceremony that the focus was to produce quality products that meet the required standard to benefit from the continental free trading zone.

"We are looking at quality products that meet standards that are also competitive so that as Professor Mthuli said, as we begin to implement the Africa Continental Free Trade, Zimbabwe is at par with other countries," she said.

Nzenza added: "This collaboration that has happened between the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and Buy Zimbabwe to focus on local production to increase the private sector growth also requires the government to listen."

Buy Zimbabwe chairperson Munyaradzi Hwengwere said the purpose of the awards was to push Zimbabwean firms to produce quality products that are recognised globally.

Nestlé Zimbabwe, Zimplats, TM Pick n Pay, National Foods and Chloride Zimbabwe were among the winners at the awards ceremony.

Buy Zimbabwe is an organisation that supports locally produced goods and encourages companies to continue production to reduce the country's dependence on imported goods.