‘Shared vision key to industrial growth’
Successful implementation of the new Zimbabwe Industrial Development Policy will depend on mutual cooperation and shared vision by stakeholders including, labour, the private sector, and the Government, delegates who attended the consultative workshop on the draft industrial policy heard this week.
The new policy, to be implemented between 2024—2030 policy will succeed the five-year National Industrial Development Policy that has been running since 2018.
The 2024-2030 policy intends to facilitate growth, productivity improvement, transformation, and competitiveness through accelerating investment in the manufacturing sector.
It seeks to grow the sector by at least 2 percent per year and targets annual growth in investments, exports of manufactured exports, and employment by 3, 10, and 20 percent respectively,” according to the draft document.
The new policy would be underpinned by productivity improvement, transformation, and competitiveness. Taking advantage of the strong linkages and interdependences between manufacturing and the agricultural sectors, a special focus would be on value chain development in areas such as fertilizer, soya, cotton, dairy, sugar, leather, pharmaceutical, bus and truck, engineering iron and steel and plastic waste value chains–considered low-hanging fruits for a structurally transforming economy.
Measures would be put in place to encourage growth in emerging industries that adopt the latest technology, especially for the innovation and new focus areas of lithium value addition, solar energy, recycled waste, and enhanced value addition in the agro-processing area among others. The National Venture Capital Fund would be key in facilitating the formation and development of new industries and start-ups, particularly from youths and women.
On the other hand, the National Competitiveness Commission (NCC) will continue to identify cost drivers impacting on competitiveness of the productive sectors and make recommendations for policy interventions. In addition, collaboration between industry and institutions of higher learning would be sustained to ensure the country takes advantage of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and new production and commercial technologies being developed at local universities.
Growth of the manufacturing sector, although positive, has continued to be weighed down by global and domestic shocks that impact on competitiveness of local products in both the domestic and export markets. The contribution of the sector to exports and progress in value addition has remained low on account of productivity challenges, high input costs, and disruptions to supply value chains.
The Volume of Manufacturing Index for the first quarter of 2023 was 289.5, reflecting a year-on-year drop of 14,8 percent compared to 339.6 in the first quarter of 2022.
However, the local industry witnessed a 56,1 percent increase in capacity utilisation in 2022 from 47 percent in 2020. Shelf-space occupancy of locally-produced products also grew to over 80 percent last year from 55 percent in 2021.
Exports of manufactured products surged to US$366 million last year from US$324 million in 2021.Addressing delegates at the workshop, Industry and Commerce Secretary, Dr Mavis Sibanda: “The Zimbabwe National Industrial Development Policy (2019- 2023) made considerable strides in strengthening the industrial sector, addressing key challenges, and leveraging emerging opportunities.
“It served as an effective guide for policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation, allowing us to enhance manufacturing activities, stimulate investment, and foster economic diversification.
“The achievements realised during this period are a testament to the collective efforts of the private sector, Government, and other key stakeholders,” said Dr Sibanda.
Dr Sibanda the Zimbabwe National Industrial Development Policy (2024-2030) would foster innovation and promote strong linkages with the tertiary institutions to enhance private sector-academia collaboration.
The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Zimbabwe, Edward Kallon indicated that the policy was a timely and important document that would provide a roadmap for the development and growth of Zimbabwe’s industrial sector.
“Allow me to applaud the Zimbabwean Government for having taken this timely initiative to review the implementation of the national industrial policy as well as develop a successor policy informed by experiences during the last five years as well as by regional and international developments.
“It is also a key component of the country’s NDS 1, which aims to transform Zimbabwe into an upper-middle-income country by 2030.
“In particular, ZNIDP is anchored on the national priority of ‘Moving the Economy up the Value Chain and Structural Transformation’ and related economic growth and competitiveness pillars to include those which relate to Agriculture, Trade, Climate Change and Digital Economy agendas,” said Mr Kallon.-herald
