Reform or perish, experts tell govt

Source: Reform or perish, experts tell govt – DailyNews Live

Ndakaziva Majaka      25 April 2017

HARARE – Amid the embarrassing news that Zimbabwe has now been officially
ranked as the poorest country in Africa, economic experts say the
government has no choice but to introduce much-needed policy reforms to
resuscitate the country’s dying economy.

Veteran economist John Robertson told the Daily News yesterday that the
only way out for Zimbabwe was for the government to urgently change its
policies to attract investment.

“The problem is no one in this government wants to accept responsibility
for the mistakes that have been made.

“The mere fact that we find our country on that poverty list means we are
clearly doing something wrong, and the situation needs to be fixed.

“It is possible to get out of the economic quagmire we find ourselves in
if mistakes are admitted to and corrected.

“The country also needs an urgent dramatic policy reversal because the
present policies have led us to where we are today, with hundreds of
thousands of jobs destroyed and billions in potential revenue unrealised,”
Robertson said.

At the weekend, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also said the
country needed to overhaul its policies, to arrest the current and
alarming economic slide.

“Zimbabwe is in a very, very difficult situation, as you know. There is a
limited amount of foreign exchange inflows coming in and no monetary
policy tool.

“So, it’s very important to have a more comprehensive policy package which
also addresses a lot of the fiscal challenges that the country faces,” IMF
director for the African Department, Abebe Aemro Selassie, said.

According to the Africa 2016 Wealth Report, Zimbabwe has been ranked as
the country with the poorest people on the continent, with average wealth
of $200 per person.

In the report, AfrAsia – a Mauritius-domiciled financial institution which
once operated in Zimbabwe after acquiring the now-defunct Kingdom
Financial Holdings Limited – noted that back in 2000, Zimbabwe was one of
the wealthiest countries in sub-Saharan Africa on a wealth per capita
basis.

It listed Mauritius as the country with the wealthiest people, with an
average wealth of $25 700 per person.

Zimbabwe is deep in the throes of a debilitating economic crisis which has
led to horrendous company closures and the consequent loss of hundreds of
thousands of jobs.

At the same time, economists have said that poverty levels in the country
are skyrocketing, with average incomes now at their lowest levels in more
than 60 years – with more than 76 percent of the country’s families now
having to make do with pitiful incomes that are well below the poverty
datum line.

The opposition MDC also said yesterday that Zimbabwe could recover from
the current economic mess, as it had abundant natural resources.

“Ours is a classic case of gross macro-economic mismanagement of the
economy by the Zanu PF regime over the past 37 years.

“We have got abundant natural resources such as minerals and a good
climate, but we have dismally failed to unlock value from our otherwise
very huge potential.

“There is light at the end of the tunnel for Zimbabwe as long as the
deeply corrupt and clueless Zanu PF dictatorship is booted out of office.

“Anything short of this means that Zimbabweans will continue to wallow in
poverty and penury, as the national economy goes on a tailspin.

“This is one of the main reasons why next year’s harmonised elections have
to be free and fair, to usher in a responsible, focused, legitimate and
caring government of the people for the people,” MDC spokesperson Obert
Gutu told the Daily News.