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A large Eastern company has opened a branch in the Zimbabwean capital city Harare this week.  The company Edmark  is an international company with branches in 25 countries and is from Malaysia a country in the far East. These are some of the fruits from the Look East Policy that has been criticized by the private media.

The Chinese companies recently came into play in the tobacco floors there by promoting the Zimbabwean  agricultural sector. This shows that the Look East Policy can work for Zimbabwe. 

The Look East Policy was crafted the early 2000s to counter the sanctions given to Zimbabwe by the West. These sanctions were given to the country as a way of promoting a regime change. By  implementing the Look East Policy, Zimbabwe was trying to open new business deals to replace business with the West. In 2008, Zimbabwe's all times weather friend China came to help the country by selling their products which were not of high quality as if to say Zimbabwe needed poor quality products.
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The bonus era ends

Due to the current economic situation in Zimbabwe the government has decided to suspend bonuses for the civil servants.The civil servants will not receive taxes until 2017 according to the Z.B.C. a state owned television station in Zimbabwe.

Finance Minister Honorable P Chinamasa

Recently Zimbabwe has been receiving poor taxes due to the closing of companies in the country. Many people have lost their jobs and students from universities have been transformed to become vendors.This shows the situation that could have led to  such a move by the government. 

The Zimbabwe's  economy is not recovering but becoming worse with a lot of people living bellow the poverty datum line. What has been the bread basket of Africa is now the begging basket of the world. Zimbabwe needs good economic policies to counter the situation in the country. There is need for the ZimAsset economic blue print to produce fruits it is expected to  bear.

Economic Policies vs Industrial Success

The economy of Zimbabwe remains stagnant with many companies liquidated and others placed under judicial management. This has been revealed in an article in  The Financial Gazette which states that 87 companies liquidated in 2014.

Closed industrial notice

In such a situation Zimbabwe needs to act very fast in solving the problem of the closing companies and the final results which is the increased unemployment rate. Many people have resorted to vending in Zimbabwe to cope up with the financial problems. Graduates from universities and colleges have been turned into vendors by the situation in the country. This leaves the country with more informal traders that are not able to boost the industrial sector of the country. 

Bulawayo Industrial site

According to the ZimASSET economic blue print 2,2milliom jobs are supposed to be created in five years. The opposite of this is however taking place in the country.  Many people have been losing their jobs. These have been driven into the informal sector such as the vending. 

The ZimAsset economic policy needs funding to produce its fruits for the Zimbabwean nation. It has been also hard for Zimbabwe to get the funds needed to fully implement to economic blue print .The blue print is failing to either give jobs to the Zimbabwean citizens or even to save the economy. A new policy may be needed to help give jobs and also save the economy .

ZimAsset is a good economic blue print but it needs a well functioning economy to be implemented with success not a struggling economy.

Zimbabwe-South Africa Relations

A highly powered delegation from Zimbabwe has gone to South Africa with a begging bowl to save its economy which has seen a lot of people losing their jobs. 

President Zuma and President Mugabe

The delegation is being headed by the Zimbabwean President and consist of ministers and other people of high ranks in the ruling government. The main reason of this trip is to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries. The visit is said to be the first official state visit in more than 20 years despite the fact that the two countries are neighbors and also that they are big trading partners.

The Zimbabwean highly powered delegation has been in China and Zimbabwe is yet to see the fruits of the journey.It is therefore very hard to believe that the delegation shall come up with positive results to Zimbabwe.

The best way to help the Zimbabwean economy is to craft economic policies upon consulting the general populace as well as the economists and other good scholars.

Trips have been taken to many countries by the government officials with the Finance minister Honorable Patrick Chinamasa  moving in many countries looking for investors and funding for the economy .These trips have shown little help hence the economy is still in bad shape . Thus Zimbabwe must create new policies for the economy to recover  

Russia -Zimbabwe Relations A Business opportunity

RUSSIAN FLAG

ZIMBABWE FLAG

Rostec a Russian arms selling company is planning a $3 billion platinum project with Zimbabwe. This comes after the Western sanctions were delivered to Russia over the Ukraine crisis. The Rostec company is affected by these sanctions as it is a government owned company that is enjoying a monopoly in selling arms in Russia.

Rostec company log

Rostec Weapons

Russia is coming in to make business with Zimbabwe only after  there is a crisis on its own back yard . The main reason why Russia came to deal with Zimbabwe is to open new markets as well as to replace the trade gap that has been left by the West due to sanctions.

If the Russia -NATO relations go well Zimbabwe may see the  Russian business in  Zimbabwe go to sleep thereby having some negative effects to the economy of the country. Thus the Russian relations with Zimbabwe are not very much binding. 

Zimbabwe has to amend its relations with the West as well as to make good policies that do not affect negatively its business with the West. Zimbabwe got into a sour relations after the Land reform program that saw white farmers lose their land. Russia had some trouble with the West after it invaded Crimea a province in Ukraine.The West has responded by giving Russia and Zimbabwe

France invest in Zimbabwe

French Ambassador at the center

Investors only need protection for them to invest in a country. A French company has come to Zimbabwe to invest in lubricants and other traffic products in a move to boost the country's economy.

The French ambassador who was at the opening ceremony praised the president of Zimbabwe, Commander in Chief of the Zimbabwe National Army and the Chancellor of all universities His Excellence Comrade R.G .Mugabe for initiating "a safe and sustainable environment for the investors".

The statement "a safe and sustainable environment for the investors" implies that investors need good policies that protect their investments and also that assures that their investments are not to endangered by either government interferences ,wars or even economic situations. 

Zimbabwe has tried to persuade investors in the country by amending its economic policies as well as going for the negotiating tables with even their number one enemies the British. 

It is however that the Western investors are still concerned about the human rights issues in Zimbabwe. The French ambassador to Zimbabwe urged the Zimbabwean authorities to find Itai Dzamara who was abducted by unknown people some weeks ago.

FRANCE TO INVEST IN ZIMBABWE VIDEO

Zimbabwe is meeting stiff competition from its neighbor South Africa on persuading investors to invest in African countries.South Africa is more stable than Zimbabwe economically .Recently the southern neighbor met strikes which caused some damages to the economy

The Bond Coins in Zimbabwe

The RBZ governor Dr John Mangudya recently introduced to the multi-currency Zimbabwean economy the bond coins. These were meant to help Zimbabweans on transaction issues. The bond coins were however met with some sot of resistance among Zimbabweans .This blog tries to discuss why there was this resistance among the Zimbabweans.

bond coins in a plastic paper

The first resistance came from the media itself .The private media criticized the bond coins and led in some arguments against these bond coins . It has been a culture of the private media to criticize the government for any policy or move it makes even when they are positive.

The Zimbabwean bearers cheques

The second fear was that the government was going to produce the Zimbabwean dollar once again . People took the introduction of bond coins as strategy of bringing the Zim dollar. People lost trust of the Zimdollar after the 2008 inflation. Mangudya has however denied on allegations of bringing back the Zimbabwean dollar.

It is however that the bond coins came to help on transactions therefore Zimbabweans must understand and accept the bond coins

 

Investor Friendly Policies in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe's economic policies have been criticized  of not being user friendly. They have been criticized of scaring away investors. This is one of the reasons given to the poor growth of the economy as well as the high unemployment in the country. 

An Industrial Site in Zimbabwe

An Industry in Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe's economic policies, there is a policy that states that a foreign investor shall only get 49% of the profit whilst 51% stays in Zimbabwe.The policy is now widely known as the 49/51 indigenisation policy.The policy truly scares away investors as part of the investor's profit is taken away leaving the investor with a only 49% of the profit . It is hard for an investor after getting all the equipment and inducing a lot of money to let 51% to be taken away. 

The ruling government has defended itself on implementing the 49/51 indigenisation policy stating that the  "law is  not responsible  for the lack of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country". This is hard to believe given the fact that since the establishment of the law the country has seen a lot of companies closing. 

Zimbabwe is not the first country to implement the 49/51 policy.This does not mean that it is moving the right way on the indigenisation policy. One should consider the time and also the situation in which the policy is being implemented. Zimbabwe is deeply in search of investors therefore its policies should attract investors. There is competition of investors around the world with investors' eyes on the southern neighbor ,South Africa .

 Given such a situation the the country should revise the policy to fit the competition. The policy fits for the developed countries where there will be need to limit the number of foreign investors in the country. 

Sowing Disaster Creating Tears For The Next Generation

The future of Zimbabwe economical remains bleak. Its growth of the year is not in a good direction . The unemployment  levels in the country remain a threat .Students from the universities can feel the heat of unemployment. What will be Zimbabwe in the next generation then given all this?

The future of Zimbabwe is in the leaders of the country. One scholar once said everything rises and falls on leadership. Our policies seem to look at Zimbabwe today and forgets tomorrow . This is in relation to the fact that there is high deforestation in the country.The country is also exporting baby elephants  to other countries especially to its "all times weather friend" China. No one knows how or when is Zimbabwe going to pay its $10 billion debt. The  Chiadzwa diamonds in Marange have not benefited much to the country.Its operations have seen the company indebted to many of its workers.

Mbada diamonds workers

Mbada diamonds site

Given this scenario one can say that the policies in Zimbabwe are  not doing enough to help the next generation. There is a great danger that the performance of the country today shall influence the next generation of the country. The wealth of the country that is going to countries may not come back leaving the next generation in calamities.

China , Fruits Not Yet Ripe

Chinese Flag

The Zimbabwean President visited China last year . This visit was aimed at increasing the number of investors in the country.This journey is still yet to yield fruits for the Zimbabwean economy. What is delaying the outcomes of the journey.

Zimbabwean Flag

Due to the Look East Policy that was carried out in Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe-China friendship was strengthened. Zimbabwe has called China an all weather friend . This implies that China supports Zimbabwe even in bad situations. China will support the country even in implementing policies that are detrimental to the country (Zimbabwe).

It is very important for the major deals in China to start bearing fruits as there is a crisis this year. Zimbabwe is facing hunger this year  after a farming season of disappointing  rain patterns in the country. The major deals are supposed to help implement the ZimAsset . The slow implementation of the mega deals from China only implies that China is not yet ready to support the Zimasset or also that it has some queries with the policy

 

 

Consultation Before Policy Implementation in Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwean Flag

Chinamasa

 The Zimbabwean economy has been deteriorating despite the introduction of the ZimAsset economic blue print. A lot of people have lost their jobs  in the country and strikes have already been reported in universities as the country struggles to pay its workers. Everyone has accepted that the country's economy is on the bleak. In my own opinion the problem of the Zimbabwean economy lays on its policies.Ordinary Zimbabweans have not participated on the construction of the ZimAsset policy .

 It seem to me that the participation of ordinary people in policy making is still small on ordinary Zimbabweans. The people are not even given a platform to debate about the policies of their own country . Policies are being dictated on ordinary people giving a limited feed back to the government. Those that support the ruling party are then used by the state to sell the policies to the people even if they are disastrous to the country . Satirically some of the people who are used to sell the policies do not understand the policies they are selling resulting in confusion amongst the citizens of the country.

Consultation is very useful as it brings new ideas from the people. Zimbabweans are a learned people and if they are consulted they can bring with them good ideas to move a nation .Before the reduction of bread in Zimbabwe, there was a consultation between the stake holders in the baking industries coming up with conditions that were favorable to everyone. This should have been done to the manufacturing industry before the implementation of the ZimAsset blue print .

Zimbabwe a begging economic country

Zimbabwe is a country that has a huge dept that is estimated to be more than US $5 billion . This dept is yet to be paid. Despite this dept, the the country has been rumored to be looking for another dept in China. Most of the people are stressed about what would happen to the next generation with the country with such a huge dept.

The public dept in Zimbabwe was at at around US$7 million in 2013.With such a huge dept Zimbabwe is not allowed to borrow another amount with the World Bank .

The best way for Zimbabwe to move on is to find new ways of paying the dept as soon as possible before it destroys the future of the country. We have to learn from others and also have good competitive policies that do not scare investors to the country.

According to the 2015 budget by Honorable Chinamasa Zimbabwe is going to focus on the ZimAsset blue print which is still confusing a lot of investors even ordinary Zimbabweans do not know what it says.

Chinamasa in parliament

CHINAMASA WITH THE BUDGET

Zimbabwe: Debt evolution

YEAR	Millions $	% GDP	$ Per Capita
2013	7,285 $	55.16%	526 $
2012	7,072 $	56.73%	516 $
2011	5,673 $	51.76%	425 $
2010	5,964 $	63.19%	456 $
2009	5,579 $	68.29%	432 $
2008	4,093 $	69.43%	338 $
2007	3,477 $	50.53%	289 $
2006	3,211 $	45.08%	267 $
2005	2,987 $	38.83%	253

200720072008200820092009201020102011201120122012201320133,0003,0004,0004,0005,0005,000Debt Millions €Debt Millions €

Date	Debt Millions €
2005	2,401€
2006	2,557€
2007	2,537€
2008	2,783€
2009	4,000€
2010	4,498€
2011	4,076€
2012	5,504€
2013	5,485€

200720072008200820092009201020102011201120122012201320133,0003,0004,0004,0005,0005,000Debt Millions €Debt Millions €

Date	Debt Millions €
2005	2,401€
2006	2,557€
2007	2,537€
2008	2,783€
2009	4,000€
2010	4,498€
2011	4,076€
2012	5,504€
2013	5,485€

The Land Reform Program

The Zimbabwe's land reform program has seen a lot of white farmers loose their land .This policy is viewed by the "public media "as a good policy that corrected the unjust distribution of land that was there during the colonial period.The has policy has however been another story in the "private media". The private media decided to rather call it the land grabbing rather than the land reform . The question is then that what benefits did the land reform give to the black people? In other words was the land reform a benefit to ordinary Zimbabweans? This blog is influenced by the articles where the Zimbabwean President "threatens to take land from the remaining white farmers".

A white family during the land reform program

Black people threaten white people to leave a farm 

After the land reform program Zimbabwe  became a country that lacked food security. The black people that took the land from the productive white farmers could not produce as much farm products as the white farmers did . This has been because the black farmers had no experience of the modern farming methods that were being used by the farmers. The dairy cattle were now being used for the African traditional farming. Land meant for grazing was now being used for ploughing and deforestation increased in these former white owned land.

The other reason for the failure of the utilization of land by  the black farmers was that some of the white farmers had to sabotage the farming equipment or the farming land . This was because they felt the bitterness of the land they called theirs being taken away.

There are two ways to move on in Zimbabwe after the land reform program. The first thing to do is to educate the black farmers that managed to get land from the land reform program. The second thing to do is for the government to let the former farmers help the black farmers utilize the land since some of the white farmers are ready to help

The President of Zimbabwe is however not ready to accept any agreement about the land .http://www.telegraph.co.uk/active/11442408/Zimbabwes-white-farmers-targeted-for-new-Mugabe-land-grabs.html .

United Nations Backing of the Zimasset

The United Nations Flag

The Zimbabwean Flag

The United Nations (UN) has recently pledged to back the Zimbabwe's policy, Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation(ZimASSET). According to the NewsDay, a Zimbabwean privately owned newspaper, the UN promised give Zimbabwe over $400 million before the end of this year. 

view herehttps://www.newsday.co.zw/2013/11/27/un-provide-430m-zimbabwe-projects/

The United Nations Building in New York USA

This is a good support and shows that the ZimASSET is a good and acceptable policy.The question that however comes out from this development is on the applicability of the policy. Given the situation in Zimbabwe where there are a lot of reports on corruption issues and mismanagement of resources, it becomes impossible for one to believe that the money given to Zimbabwe by the UN is going to be used properly for the implementation of the ZimASSET policy. A lot of money is being funded into the country through organisations such as the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Bank (WB) but no one has ever looked into the use of the money . This gives room for mismanagement of the money. 

Some have argued that the ZimASSET is a selling point for the government . This argument states that the ZimASSET policy was formed by the government as a way of looking for funds

President Mugabe at UN video

During a speech at the UN the Zimbabwean President President Robert Mugabe spoke about the policy.Some of the online publications reported him as selling

view herehttp://www.zimeye.com/video-mugabe-sells-zimasset-to-united-nations/

President Robert Mugab

President Robert Mugab

   

Is this the abandoning of the Look East Policy

It seems that there is now a turn around on the Zimbabwean Look East Policy .The current Vice President of Zimbabwe  Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa has been quoted by a Zimbabwean local newspaper  The NewsDay implying that Zimbabwe cannot do without the West.

View Article Here https://www.newsday.co.zw/2015/02/27/cant-without-west-mnangagwa/

This is a shock for those who know the policies and the way in which the Zimbabwean ruling party does its things . There are two probable explanations of the article from this shocking remarks that were uttered during  the commissioning of a $9,10 million Africa Development Bank (AfDB) in Mutare on the 27th of February 2015.

The First explanation is the one that has been given by the NewsDay reporter Kenneth Nyangani who describes it as a U-turn . The government could have seen the dangers of its policies such as the Look East Policy  . The Look East policy had a tendency of forgetting deals with the West whilst at the same time making business with the East countries which are mostly the Developing countries which are also relying on trade with the West for economic growth. The government now sees the dangers of this policy and want to reverse it so as to attract the once perceived enemies from the West. The government also wants to attract more donations from the International Community which are the Western countries. These Western countries control the donors of Zimbabwe such as the AfDB hence the government wants to amend these relationships to get more funds.

The second explanation to the article is that the government itself is divided over the issue of coming back to the West. The Zimbabwean President is yet to comment on the normalizing of relations with the West. His words have been that Zimbabwe has nothing to do with the West.The President has also said that the country must maintain its relations with the East since the Western countries are not "our friends". This shows that there is a contradiction between the President and his recent elected Vice President over the relations with the Western countries  

         

The Look East Policy a failed policy

Zimbabwean flag

The Zimbabwean government once drafted the Look East Policy. This policy has been argued by many as the base of the Zimbabwe-China relationship . Today this policy is not being talked about either in the press or in the political arena . The policy is now like a dormant policy. How favorable has this policy been to the Zimbabwean economy is a question to ask. 

Chinese Flag

As usual ,there has been some contrasting views of the policy between the public media and the privately owned media. The privately owned media opposed the policy and stated that it was a failure.The Zimbabwe Independent newspaper a privately owned newspaper had an article which read "Look East policy a failed political posture". This article stated that the policy could not solve the problem of the sinking Zimbabwean economy.

View article here http://www.theindependent.co.zw/2014/05/02/look-east-policy-failed-political-posture/ 

The Herald Newspaper a public newspaper supported the policy. It once praised the Look East policy in its article How Mugabe's Look East Policy influenced the World 

View article herehttp://www.herald.co.zw/how-mugabes-look-east-policy-influenced-the-world/ 

It is true the Look East policy was there to counter the illegal economic sanctions imposed by the Western governments but the policy could not bring food on the table . The economy of Zimbabwe continued to suffer even after the implementation of the policy. The economy of the country sank in the even though the Look East Policy was implemented in the early 2000s. 

A campaign not a policy

Here is what the African Economic Outlook say about the Zimbabwean economy

"Zimbabwe's economy remains in a fragile state, with an unsustainably high external debt and massive deindustrialisation and informalisation. The average GDP growth rate of 7.5% during the economic rebound of 2009-12 is moderating. This economic slowdown is due to liquidity challenges (e.g. the lack of and high cost of capital and revenue underperformance), outdated technologies, structural bottlenecks that include power shortages and infrastructure deficits, corruption and a volatile and fragile global financial environment"

  http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/countries/southern-africa/zimbabwe/

PEOPLE AT THE ZANU-PF STAR RALLY IN MUTARE 

Since the introduction of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZimASSET) what improvement has the country seen ? Is this blue print a failure or a success to the Zimbabwean economy?  These are the questions Zimbabweans have to ask before criticizing the economic blue print.

The zimasset economic blue print came as a campaign structure . Its use was to lure people to vote for the ruling party ZANU-PF . It is therefore problematic to initiate this policy as many many companies are closing down and corruption still at its highest peak.

The ZimASSET is an economic blue print that has been designed and unveiled by the government To view what the blue print says here is a link to it

http://www.zimtreasury.gov.zw/zim-asset

Table 1: Macroeconomic indicators

	2012	2013(e)	2014(p)	2015(p)
Real GDP growth	4.4	3.7	4	3.7
Real GDP per capita growth	1.7	0.6	0.9	0.7
CPI inflation	3.7	4.1	4	3.6
Budget balance % GDP	-1.3	-1.9	-1.9	-2.2
Current account balance % GDP	-20.1	-18.5	-16.9	-14.4

Source: Data from domestic authorities; estimates (e) and projections (p) based on authors’ calculations.

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This is the data that has been given by the   African Economic Outlook . The data does not show any improvement since the year 2012 . This comes back to the question above " Is this blue print a failure or a success to the Zimbabwean economy?