President Emmerson Mngangagwa says his administration is currently seized with arresting the rising consumer prices which continue to undermine growth projections amid increased pressure for authorities to save the rapidly sinking economy.
He said this at the burial of the late national hero; Major General (retired) Sikhulile Simpson Nyathi at the National Shrine this morning.
Mnangagwa’s comments come at a time; the local currency accelerated its downward movement in recent weeks forcing business players to continue tracking the parallel market rates for pricing to remain afloat.
“My government is seized with the implementation of mechanisms to rein in the current increases in prices. In this regard, I encourage business and other stakeholders across various sectors of the economy to assume a strong sense of national responsibility and commit to the overall realization of sustainable socio-economic development and improve the quality of life of our people,” said Mnangagwa.
The Zimbabwe dollar is trading between ZWL$ 500-600 against the American dollar on the parallel market while the official exchange rate currently stands around ZWL$ 325.
What makes the Mnangagwa administration’s predicament a unique case is that the headwinds are coming from multiple fronts, including externally from the Ukraine/Russian crisis, the COVID-19 effects then on the local front, there is the impact of natural disasters in the last two years, self-inflicted challenges such as the mismanagement of public resources and reckless policy pronouncements.
Then there is always the propensity to assume that business players are always sabotaging economic progress as witnessed in the recent dismissal of industry lobby body, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI)’s sentiments in a paper on economic policy recommendations.
“Speculative and unethical business behavior will not be tolerated as this weighs on the projected growth performance of our economy,” added the President.
Business sentiment is currently weak owing to lack of confidence in policy measures currently implemented by monetary authorities.
This is largely reflected in the tumbling of shares on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) which has endured a difficult month.
A fortnight ago, the Central Bank temporarily suspended the entire banking sector from lending so that it carried out investigations on a handful select financial institutions it suspected of improper conduct, a move analysts strongly condemned.
