The Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front has been peddling the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim Asset)- its economic blue print for 2013-2018- as the answer to the country’s economic woes. What is it?
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It is time that Zimbabweans started debating issues instead of suffering in silence and whining all the time. While most people have given up because they think our leaders do not listen- they do. I know because they have been watching The Insider for the past 23 years.
Here is the executive summary of the plan.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Zimbabwe experienced a deteriorating economic and social environment since 2000 caused by illegal economic sanctions imposed by the Western countries. This resulted in a deep economic and social crisis characterised by a hyperinflationary environment and low industrial capacity utilization, leading to the overall decline in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 50% in 2008.
After the landslide victory by the ZANU PF Party in the 31st July 2013 harmonised elections, the Party was given the mandate to govern the country for a five (5) year term. To guide national development for these five years, Government has crafted a new economic blue print known as the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio- Economic Transformation (Zim Asset).
This economic blue print was developed through a consultative process involving political leadership in the ruling ZANU PF Party, Government, Private Sector and other stakeholders. Source documents recognize the continued existence of the illegal economic sanctions, subversive activities and internal interferences from hostile countries. This therefore calls for the need to come up with sanctions busting strategies, hence Zim Asset’s focus will be on the full exploitation and value addition to the country’s own abundant resources.
The Vision of the Plan is “Towards an Empowered Society and a Growing Economy”. The execution of this Plan will be guided by the following Mission: “To provide an enabling environment for sustainable economic empowerment and social transformation to the people of Zimbabwe”.
The implementation of Zim Asset will be underpinned and guided by the Results Based Management (RBM) System and will be used as a basis for the macroeconomic budgetary framework by Treasury, commencing with the 2014 fiscal year.
Zim Asset is a cluster based Plan, reflecting the strong need to fully exploit the internal relationships and linkages that exist between the various facets of the economy. These clusters are as follows:
- Food Security and Nutrition;
- Social Services and Poverty Eradication;
- Infrastructure and Utilities; and
- Value Addition and Beneficiation.
To buttress the aforementioned clusters, two sub-clusters were also developed namely Fiscal Reform Measures and Public Administration, Governance and Performance Management. To ensure the successful implementation of Zim Asset, key strategies, success factors and drivers have been identified as implementation pillars.
For easy conceptualisation, comprehension and appreciation of the key result areas, outcomes as well as outputs, Zim Asset is set out in Matrix form to ensure the institutionalization and mainstreaming of a results based culture in the public sector in conformity with the Results Based Management System.
Under this arrangement, initiatives identified under each Cluster will be implemented immediately to yield rapid results (Quick Wins) in the shortest possible time frame (October 2013 – December 2015), with the other deliverables targeted up to December 2018. In the process, Government will undertake blitz interventions in the delivery of services.
In order to ensure that the Plan is fully funded, the following, interalia, have been identified as financing mechanisms: tax and non tax revenue, leveraging resources, Sovereign Wealth Fund, issuance of bonds, accelerated implementation of Public Private Partnerships, securitization of remittances, re-engagement with the international and multilateral finance institutions and other financing options, focusing on Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS).
The Office of the President and Cabinet will monitor and evaluate the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Plan.
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