CZI president, Kumbirai Katsande, told The Zimbabwean ****** that economic recovery hinged on the performance of parastatals that have a direct influence on the productive sectors.
Katsande said government must consider injecting cash to transform the operations of key institutions, such as the energy and telecommunications entities. “The success of any plan is largely dependent on the efficiency of power and energy utilities, together with the telecommunications sector. These are important economic enablers,” said Katsande. He said Zesa, the National Railways of Zimbabwe and Hwange Colliery Company Limited remained heavily under capitalised.
“Government should allocate adequate resources to these organisations, which are the pillars of industry,” he said. Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, has already revealed plans by government to privatise three state-owned companies and list them on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) this year. Speaking during the recent listing of TN Financial Holdings on the local bourse, Biti said trading the privatised firms on the ZSE would facilitate public participation in their shareholding while enabling the creation of viable independent companies.
“We are looking at listing at least three entities … so you should be seeing the IPO’s (Initial Public Offers) this year,” said Biti. The minister said the government had seen some success stories with the privatisation of the former Dairy Marketing Board, now trading as Dairibord Holdings Limited, and the Cotton Marketing Board which has since been rebranded into AICO Africa Limited. The government is also understood to be considering part-privatisation of the struggling national airliner, Air Zimbabwe.
Post published in: Economy