Zimbabwe banks revival on mineral wealth

by DANAI MWARUMBA 
HARARE – ZIMBABWE has an abundance of minerals and human resources to revive its comatose economy, President Emmerson Mnangwa said.

He was speaking at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland where he said the country lagged behind its peers because of ruinous policies under the leadership of his predecessor, Robert Mugabe, who resigned in November.

“Zimbabwe has lagged behind in many areas as a result of isolation for past 16, 18 years,” Mngangagwa said.

“Now we are saying to the world: Zimbabwe is now open for business. To do so, we need to look at all the legislation that has been constraining business coming into Zimbabwe to improve the ease of doing business.”

Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe, the third largest platinum producer in the world behind Russia and neighbouring South Africa, had vast mineral resources and hardworking citizens capable of turning around the economy if investors returned.

Zimbabwe is the world’s six largest diamond producer after Russia, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Australia and Canada.

It is also among the world’s top producers of gold, coal, iron, nickel and copper.

Investors quit the Southern African country following alleged partisan policies by Mugabe and the ruling ZANU-PF.

In Davos, Mnangagwa held high-level meetings with leaders from the world’s multilateral financial institutions.

Most revived hopes for Zimbabwe’s re-engagement with the international community.

Global financial institutions such as World Bank, International Monetary Fund and African Development Bank expressed hope in the new administration of Zimbabwe.

– CAJ News