Staff Writer
Zimbabwe is capable of achieving an upper-middle-income economy by 2030 if it puts its house in order, a renowned economic expert has said.
According to Professor Gift Mugano, Adjunct Professor of Economics at Durban University of Technology and Executive Director at Africa Economic Development Strategies said there was need economic transformation.
“To achieve Vision 2030, we need economic transformation which results in a paradigm shift of exports from export of raw materials to processed and value-added goods.
“We also need a shared growth,” he told delegates to the Chartered Governance and Accountancy Institute in Zimbabwe annual conference in Victoria Falls last week.
Prof Mugano said the baseline gross national income (GNI) for an upper-middle-income economy was between US$3,956 and US$12,235. At present the country’s GNI was US$1,350.
About 70 percent of the country’s current exports were minerals, while 22 percent were agricultural products. That meant that 92 percent of the country’s exports were at present primary products.
Zimbabwe’s imports were dominated by finished goods.
Prof Mugano said traditional imports that could be substituted by locally produced goods included fertilisers, pharmaceuticals, steel, cereals, tissues and paper.
He said the government’s roadmap towards Vision 2030 embraced National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), to be implemented from 2021 to 2025, and National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2), which was to be implemented from 2026 to 2030.
There were a number of success factors that were preconditions for the successful implementation of NDS1.
Macroeconomic stability was critical for enhancing certainty and confidence in the economy by anchoring the exchange rate and inflation.
Prioritised programmes and projects were to be premised on the predictability of the Budget.
Robust economic growth and the transformative thrust of moving up the value chain was premised on the availability of efficient key enablers such as energy, transport and water.
“Effective implementation of programmes and projects is also dependent on the doing business environment. Swift implementation of ease of doing business reforms, strengthening property rights, upholding the rule of law and combating corruption are key tenets of the NDS1,” he said.
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