Formalising Zimbabwe’s informal economy- full statement and debate

DR. KURUNERI: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I could not resist this debate; the reason being, my own PHD dissertation was on this topic – The urban/formal sector in the greater Harare of Salisbury in 1980. What I want to say to support the Minister is that in Japan and China, they refer to the informal sector as cottage industry. The cottage industry refers to those who produce spare parts for their cars Nissan, Mazda and so forth. That is why Japanese cars have a better competitive advantage to European cars. So, there is a real connection here between the big industry and the small industry, we may call it different names.

Mr. Speaker, I also have a model that I can share with the Hon. Minister on how I measured profitability in the informal sector and productivity. You were very correct in what you were saying about how Pelhams and other big furniture shops are buying their furniture in Highfield and then they put fake stamps 'imported from South Africa', it is coming from Glen Norah there. I established that myself in1980 by simply asking those people where they were selling their furniture and they told me, to Pelhams and other furniture shops. I shall pay you a visit Hon. Minister and talk some more about this.

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