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Bianca Mlilo, Business Reporter
THE Chamber of Mines Zimbabwe (CoMZ) says overall investor confidence in the extractive sector has risen by 23.9 points spurred by positive growth prospects for 2017.

A state of the mining industry report released by the Chamber indicates that economic prospects indicators have also risen with most miners expecting improved output this year.

“The overall mining business confidence for 2017, though negative, has improved from that of 2016. The MBCI for 2017 was -14 compared to -37.9 recorded for 2016,” said CoMZ.

“Notable improvements in confidence relate to investment plans, mining growth prospects, mining title, consistency and predictability, political risk and employment.”

CoMZ said about 66 percent of the mining business executives expect contraction of the economy in 2017, while another 22 percent expect economic growth prospects in 2017 to remain the same as 2016.

About 12 percent expect a marginal growth in 2017, said the Chamber.

The mining business confidence index was used to gauge the level of investor confidence and prospects of the mining industry based on the following variables: economic prospects, profitability prospects and growth prospects.

Other variables considered are market outlook, access to and cost of capital, employment, investment plans and commitments and mining title security.

Investment competitiveness, stability of and optimality of mining fiscal regime, consistency and predictability of mining policies, as well as perception of political risk are the other variables.

@BiancaMlilo