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.
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| An Industrial Site in Zimbabwe |
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| 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.
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