By Alois Vinga BUSINESS experts have attributed the current decline in the demand for products and services to poor wages and other earnings by the majority. Commenting on the situation, Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president, Henry Ruzvidzo admitted that the impact of the nation’s wage structures is severely affecting local demand goods and services. “While
By Alois Vinga ZIMBABWE’s import bill has increased by US$88 million while at the same time exports have plunged 6% that Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has reported. According to the Central Bank’s latest monthly economic review for the period ending April 2019, the country’s import bill continued on an upward trend. “Merchandise imports amounted
By Costa Nkomo A senior executive at Ethical Leaf Tobacco, Andrew Mupfawa has been accused of trying to stop a parliamentary committee hearing after attempting to meet chairperson Justice Mayor Wadyajena privately. Wadyajena the chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Lands, Agriculture, Climate, Water and Rural Resettlement told an oral evidence hearing into the problems
By Idah Mhetu THE Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) Tuesday announced new prices of fuel. The latest increases comes two weeks after Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube indicated he would be comfortable with an increase that would bring the precious liquid’s value per litre at par with the interbank rate of the US$. According to a
By Alois Vinga THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has issued additional exchange control regulations which have categorised all foreign currency held by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and embassies as “free funds” which can be used to finance local contracts. Through the Central Bank’s circular 8 of 2019 released Wednesday, the funds should however be liquidated
By Alois Vinga FINANCE Minister Mthuli Ncube’s economic reforms have created a predictable environment and allowed business to plan, a top manager with one of the country’s biggest retail chains has said. OK Zimbabwe chief executive officer, Alex Siyavora said as a business, they have noticed a degree of price stability following the recent raft
By Alois Vinga ECONET Wireless Zimbabwe Limited’s (EWZL)’s subsidiary, Cassava Smartech, has successfully developed a multi-purpose application, Sasai which will be launched soon in a development that is set to challenge Whatsapp’s dominance on the African continent. In statement, the financial technology company said the new application will enable users to go beyond sending texts
By Robert Tapfumaneyi THE country’s leading beverages manufacturer, Delta Corporation, has reported a staggering 57% decline in beer sales volumes in the first quarter of 2019, when compared to the same period last year. According to Delta, sorghum beer volumes grew by 2% against prior year figures while sparkling beverages volumes dropped 79% in the
By Alois Vinga CLIENTS who purchased policies using US dollars during the multi-currency system are set to lose their investment value as some insurance firms have moved to liquidate contracts into Zim-dollars using the prevailing interbank rates while other firms have not officially communicated the way forward. A visit to several insurance providers by NewZimbabwe.com
Business Report Mobile operators are feeling the pinch of power outages in Zimbabwe, with blackouts disrupting connectivity and transactions in a country that relies heavily on electronic transactions. Econet Wireless, the country’s biggest mobile operator, said yesterday that even diesel generators had failed to alleviate the problem as power cuts continued for up to 18
By Alois Vinga TOP industrialists and economic experts have expressed concerns over the recently launched Zimbabwe National Industrial Policy’s (ZNIDP) lack of a clear road map and supporting strategies to attain set targets in its endeavour to transform the country’s fortunes. The ZNIDP comes at a time when the country has experienced serious de-industrialisation with
Aljazeera British Airways and Lufthansa have suspended flights to Egypt’s capital, Cairo, over unspecified security concerns, giving no details about what may have prompted the move. “We constantly review our security arrangements at all our airports around the world, and have suspended flights to Cairo for seven days as a precaution to allow for further
By Alois Vinga INDUSTRY Minister, Mangaliso Ndlovu has revised Zimbabwe’s manufacturing sector growth for 2019 down to 1% from the initially projected 2.5% growth rate owing to a host of contributory factors outside government control. Briefing delegates at the state of industry breakfast meeting recently, Ndlovu attributed the downward projection mainly to natural disasters. “We
By Alois Vinga CASSAVA Smartech’s subsidiary, Ecocash is enjoying almost 100% dominance of mobile money transactions and continues to maintain a lead ahead of other service providers. The Postal Telecommunications Regulatory Authority’s report entitled Consumer Satisfaction Report observes that Ecocash platform is conducting almost 99% of the total money transfer services. The stats prove that
By Alois Vinga Government has raised concerns over the confusion being caused by the existence of numerous Business Member Organisations (BMOs) operating in the country. Industry Minister, Mangaliso Ndlovu recently told NewZimbabwe.com Business that this was hindering effective representation of business players in the country hence the need to form a unified apex council. Ndlovu
By Alois Vinga THE Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECTS) violations registered a 96% increase signifying accelerated efforts by truck drivers to avoid the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority’s (ZIMRA) cargo compliance systems, it has emerged. ECTS is a technology solution that enables real-time tracking of cargo from point of loading to point of offloading. The system was
By Alois Vinga AT least 600 workers at Surface Wilmar and Olivine Industries are beginning to feel the heat in the current electricity cuts as the two companies have resorted to sending them back home due to depressed productivity. Surface Wilmar country head, Narottan Somani told Deputy Industry Minister Raj Modi, during a plant tour
By Alois Vinga ZIMBABWE’s annual inflation rate has maintained an upward trend increasing by 80% from the 97.85% recorded in the month of June 2019 to hit 175.5%, recent Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency data has shown. Measured on a yearly basis in line with the newly adopted calculation method, Consumer Price Index (CPI), an increase
By Alois Vinga ENERGY Minister, Fortune Chasi has threatened to name and shame business tycoons owing the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) a total of $300 million in unpaid electricity bills. Chasi told captains of industry Monday that his plea for people indebted to Zesa have fallen on deaf ears and this could force him
TechnoMag Zimbabwe mobile tariffs compared to the SADC region and other African countries have become insanely too low and no longer make business sense, a survey has revealed. In a survey done by TechnoMag, Zimbabwe is currently charging tops of 22cents rtgs per minute which when converted against the bank rate, amounts to $0.024 USD
