Stats reveal dire state of manufacturing sector

About 30% of registered

companies in Zimbabwe are

generating less than

US$5 000 a year, mainly

through the sale of imported

products.

This is one of the findings

of the first Central Business

Register study undertaken

by the Zimbabwe National

Statistics Agency (Zimstat)

between August 2013 and

June 2014.

It found that only 3% of

registered

companies

in the

country had

an annual

turnover of

more than

US$1

million.

The findings are an

indication of a lack of

manufacturing and large

corporate businesses.

According to the 2015 CZI

(Confederation of Zimbabwe

Industries) Manufacturing

Survey, “external and

internal pressures continue

to haunt the Zimbabwean

economy and the

manufacturing sector is not

spared”.

Efforts by government

to resuscitate the sector

through tariffs continue to

be undermined by factors

such as the depreciation of

the regional currencies, it

says.

The 2015 Manufacturing

Sector Survey shows

a decline in the sector

compared to 2014, with

weighted capacity utilisation

shedding 2.2

percentage

points from

36.5% to

34.3%.

Constraints

include low

domestic

demand,

lack of capital, “antiquated

machinery and machine

breakdowns” and

competition from imports,

according to CZI.

Zimbabwe has had a trade

deficit for a number of years

due to a decline in exports.

The country’s trade deficit

stood at $3 billion between

January and November 2015,

according to the Zimbabwe

National Statistics Agency

(Zimstat).

Imports in the first 11

months of the year stood at

$5.8 billion while exports

amounted to $2,8 billion.

Finance minister Patrick

Chinamasa has been quoted

as saying that merchandise

imports accounted for around

60% of the imports.

“A significant volume of

the imported products are

non-essential, cheap and

sub-standard,” he is quoted as

saying.

Most of the imported goods

and services, he said, could

“be easily produced in the

country”.

Government has put in place

measures including duty hikes

on non-essential imports such

as bakery products.

It has also reduced duties

on raw materials for a number

of products to try to stimulate

local production.

The furniture, meat and

sugar industries are among

those given duty reductions in

the 2015 budget.

INSERT

$3bn Zimbabwe's trade deficit from

Jan-Nov 2015