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Minister of Industry and Commerce Mike Bimha stresses a point to Sadc Executive Secretary Dr Stergomina Lawrence Tax during a state banquet in Victoria Falls on Sunday

Oliver Kazunga Senior Business Reporter
INDUSTRY and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha has left the country for China where he is expected to engage companies in that country and seek their investment in local firms.
An official from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce who requested anonymity yesterday confirmed Bimha was in the Asian country on business.

“He is out of the country in China on government business and will only be coming back at the end of the month,” said the official without elaborating. A local online publication also quoted Minister Bimha saying he was headed for China to seek investment to revive the local manufacturing sector.

“I’m on my way to China right now. Obviously, China is our friend. We want to talk to companies there to see how they can help us. I will have more information when I come back,” he was quoted as saying.

Bimha’s visit to China comes amid reports that President Mugabe has tasked him to compile a detailed report on the state of industry with a view to finding solutions to constraints facing the private sector.

The minister is on record as saying the President wanted a sector-by-sector report on the happenings in local firms.
Since the liberalisation of the economy in February 2009, efforts to revive industries have been hampered largely by liquidity constraints and lack of foreign direct investment among other fundamentals.

Zimbabwe’s manufacturing sector requires about $8 billion to stimulate productivity to competitive levels, according to the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI).

Most industries are struggling to improve capacity utilisation from an average of 10 percent before the liberalisation of the economy to competitive levels due to the underperforming economy.

Captains of industry say capacity utilisation levels in local industries dropped to 39,6 percent last year from 44,9 percent in 2012.
CZI has said it was undertaking a manufacturing survey to establish this year’s capacity utilisation amid concerns it might have plunged further.

Working capital, obsolete equipment and outdated technology, intermittent power supplies and increasing competition from cheap imported products continue to dog industrial growth.

In Bulawayo, close to 100 firms closed shop rendering more than 20,000 people jobless.
Last year the government crafted the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset) premised on beneficiation and value addition, which seeks to turn around the economy by 2018.

It has also proposed Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and continued re-engagement of the international community as possible remedies for the economic malaise.

Principles for establishment of SEZs have been crafted and are awaiting presentation by Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa.

It is hoped SEZs will create an environment conducive for foreign investors to enjoy a number of concessions that would make it easier to conduct business while they recoup their investments.