News / National
'Zimbabwe making progress in formalising economy'
01 Nov 2022 at 05:10hrs | Views
FINANCE minister Mthuli Ncube says the country is fast gaining ground on formalisation despite 86% of the economy being informal.
Speaking at the launch of the second phase of the financial inclusion strategy in Harare yesterday, Ncube said Zimbabwe was working on achieving affordable and accessible financial services for all.
"Formalisation is improving from the bottom to the top. We have made progress and it is good that we are making moves in the right direction. Financial institutions and all concerned stakeholders must take joint ownership of the national financial inclusion strategy.
"I was very pleased with the figures of formalisation and it is easy to say Zimbabwe is highly-informalised and at the same time we can say formalisation is improving," Ncube said.
However, statistics in the financial inclusion strategy document for the second phase running from 2022 to 2026 show that only 14% of the economy is formalised.
With inflation ever rising the country's economy has receded into the informal sector as citizens battle to make ends meet amid joblessness. The World Bank also recently warned that the country's high level of informalisation paused a serious threat to the southern African country's overall economic growth.
According to the National Financial Inclusion Strategy document, the Zimbabwean economy is largely dominated by micro, small and medium-scale enterprises which are contributing up to US$8,6 billion (60%) to gross domestic product.
The initial strategy was aimed at increasing the population of adults with access to financial services from the current 69% to 90% by 2020.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe deputy governor Jesimen Chipika said they had achieved the initial target of financial inclusion.
Speaking at the launch of the second phase of the financial inclusion strategy in Harare yesterday, Ncube said Zimbabwe was working on achieving affordable and accessible financial services for all.
"Formalisation is improving from the bottom to the top. We have made progress and it is good that we are making moves in the right direction. Financial institutions and all concerned stakeholders must take joint ownership of the national financial inclusion strategy.
"I was very pleased with the figures of formalisation and it is easy to say Zimbabwe is highly-informalised and at the same time we can say formalisation is improving," Ncube said.
With inflation ever rising the country's economy has receded into the informal sector as citizens battle to make ends meet amid joblessness. The World Bank also recently warned that the country's high level of informalisation paused a serious threat to the southern African country's overall economic growth.
According to the National Financial Inclusion Strategy document, the Zimbabwean economy is largely dominated by micro, small and medium-scale enterprises which are contributing up to US$8,6 billion (60%) to gross domestic product.
The initial strategy was aimed at increasing the population of adults with access to financial services from the current 69% to 90% by 2020.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe deputy governor Jesimen Chipika said they had achieved the initial target of financial inclusion.
Source - Newsday Zimbabwe
