Conrad Mwanawashe Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT says it is in line to achieve the 80 percent capacity utilisation targets set out in the industrial development policy by 2016. The industrial development policy targets to increase capacity utilisation to between 57-80 percent through the promotion of viable and commercial sectors both for the domestic and international trade. A Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries Manufacturing Sector Survey sets 2014 capacity utilisation levels at 36,3 percent, down 3,3 percent from 39,6 percent last year
The overall objective is to restore the manufacturing sector’s contribution to GDP of Zimbabwe from the current 15 percent to 30 percent and its contribution to exports from 26 percent to 50 percent by 2015 consistent with the Medium Term Plan, according to Director for International Trade in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Mrs Beatrice Mtetwa.
“We also hope to have an average real GDP growth of 7 percent targeted under this policy framework of 2012-2016.
“We also want to create employment in the manufacturing sector on an incremental basis and reduce unemployment level,” said Mrs Mtetwa.
The Industrial Development Policy Framework 2012-2016 was launched in 2012 and seeks to guide industrial growth and to create additional employment in the manufacturing sector on an incremental basis and reduce unemployment levels by 2016.
Growth targets will be achieved through a combination of strategies which include re-equipping and replacing obsolete machinery and new technologies for import substitution and enhanced value addition. The strategies include increasing the manufactured exports to the Sadc and Comesa regions and the rest of the world.
The Industrial Development Policy 2012–2016 seeks to address the challenges which weigh down the industrial sector in order to enhance its performance and give it the competitive edge it needs in the challenging global environment.
Value-addition or beneficiation is one of the cornerstones of the policy.
Zimbabwe is abundantly endowed with natural resources, which include many industrial minerals and agricultural resources. The Industrial Development Policy Framework 2012-2016 envisages transforming Zimbabwe from a producer of primary goods into a producer of processed value-added goods for both the domestic and export market through the promotion of viable industrial and commercial sectors.
Critical to the attainment of these objectives is the anchoring of fundamental principles in the document of issues related to enhanced value addition, access to affordable development finance, technology transfer and research and development among others, on prioritised sector basis under a cluster approach.