Story by Tafara Chikumira
The National Economic Consultative Forum (NECF) is crafting a raft of measures aimed at addressing challenges affecting specific industries with plans afoot to ensure that communities can contribute to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
During a Midlands business indaba by the NECF, businesses operating in the province said they are failing to get the requisite services like power and water for them to realise their full potential.
The NECF said it is now ceased with the task of coming up with a cocktail of measures to ensure that grey areas are addressed.
The Deputy Chief Secretary for Policy Analysis, Coordination and Development Planning in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Mr Willard Manungo said, “One thing we have realised is that some sectors were being left out in the sector-specific GDP performance. We are saying everyone has the potential to come up with economic activities that can benefit those areas.
“We have therefore tasked ZIMSTAT to do the mapping of all potential businesses with an economic census set for next year after the mapping exercise. We want a situation whereby every business is afforded the necessary support to realise their full potential.”
ZIMSTAT had a word of advice for the Midlands province to raise its provincial GDP, bordering on strengthening areas it is not faring well.
“From our assessment based on the research we have done, I can safely say the province has so much strength in mining, agriculture and education. We have seen that the province has not been doing well on issues to do with health. It is in this area that I think we need to focus more as a province and attract investments in the area.
“Our statistics in the past have however excluded some critical sectors which were not classified in business terms which is being rectified by the census process currently underway will be able to rectify,” said ZIMSTAT’s Midlands provincial manager, Mr Michael Hove.
The NECF is engaging various sectors of the economy countrywide, to come up with recommendations to relevant stakeholders for the formulation of policies that will ensure the country attains its vision of an upper-middle-income society by 2030.
