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Mr Sifelani Jabangwe

Kiyapili Sibanda, Business Reporter
THE Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) says this year’s manufacturing sector survey would be completed in October with the results expected in November.

CZI president Mr Sifelani Jabangwe said this year they were targeting the survey to cover 300 companies from different sectors, the same size sample they did last year.

The manufacturing sector survey is meant to assess the performance of the country’s manufacturing sector in terms of its capacity utilisation.

“We started the survey this week and we hope to complete by end of October for the report to be compiled. A total of 300 companies from different sectors are taking part the very same sample size we had for last year’s survey,” he said.

CZI recently reviewed downwards its capacity utilisation target for this year to between 50 and 60 percent from the projected 65 percent by year-end due to a shortage of foreign currency to buy critical raw materials.

Mr Jabangwe said since the promulgation of Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016, the industrial lobby had received positive feedback from companies in the private sector.

“We got a very positive response in terms of report back from companies in the private sector about the SI 64/16. This will go a long way in economic revival,” he said.

He said local companies need to retool for them to remain competitive in the region as this would to improve their products.

“Companies must be able to attend to the issue of retooling for them to remain competitive in the market. This will help to improve their products to be competitive in the region and also to be able to access raw materials,” said Mr Jabangwe.

The SI, which removes several goods from the Open Import General Licence, seeks to protect local companies from unwarranted competition posed by cheap imports.

@Kiyaz_Cool