"The cost of doing business in Zimbabwe is very high and the investment climate is still not conducive," said Kundhavi Kadiresan, Country Director for Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Minister of Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment, Saviour Kasukuwere, has given the Western business community a tongue-lashing, accusing it of "reaping where it has not sown" by grabbing all "profits" and taking them to their capitals in London (United Kingdom), Paris (France) and Washington D.C (United States).
His new regulations on indigenisation have riled even local business tycoons who point out that Zimbabwe does not need such "draconian" regulations at a time when the country is seriously in the red.
Business mogul and prominent banker, James Mushore, Chief Executive of NMBZ Holdings Limited, said Zimbabwe's indigenisation regulations were "unclear" and "opaque".
NMBZ is dually listed on the Zimbabwe and London Stock Exchanges.
"Zimbabwe's economy is agricultural-based," Mushore told ***The Zimbabwean. "Agriculture used to provide 65 percent of inputs into manufacturing. It follows, therefore, that to create employment we need to fund agriculture. To fund agriculture we need access to lines of credit which will allow us to advance loans of 270 days or more as this is the typical see to harvest period."
He revealed that NMBZ was currently seeking US$10 in lines of credit from the international community.
"To access lines of credit we need to be able to get lenders to reassess their views on what they perceive to be political risk in Zimbabwe. We can do this in a number of ways – one of which is to have legislation that is clear and unambiguous."
Post published in: Business