Zimbabwe generated close to US$5 billion from exports between January and September this year alone, a government official has said.
Speaking at the Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe (Emcoz) annual congress in Bulawayo on Thursday, Industry and Commerce Minister, Mangaliso Ndlovu, said that Zimbabwe, with its 16 million citizens, generates more than Kenya which has a population of 48 million. He said:
When we look at our country the chorus has been that we have inadequate foreign currency.
I think as a nation we need to have dialogue around our usage of foreign currency because we are a very small economy but we are using so much foreign currency.
I don’t understand why. When we look at between January to 6 September this year, foreign currency receipts are close to US$5 billion.
Countries like Kenya generate not more than US$2,5 billion annually but it’s a 48 million population.
What is wrong with Zimbabwe? It then tells us that our foreign currency usage is a problem, that’s something we need to focus on.
But also when we look at our foreign currency receipts, the lowest hanging fruit are exports.
Zimbabwe generates foreign currency mainly from raw materials, that include cash crops such as tobacco and cotton, and minerals such as gold, platinum, diamonds and chrome.