So, I urge Government to go back to duty regime so that they can deal with that problem. Also, whilst the ban is in place, let us also monitor the response by local companies; are they able to produce? Let us have a mechanism to monitor production. I was going to suggest that let us come up with the two tier product merchandising system. By this I mean, our supermarkets should have a border line, physical these are the shelves for locally produced products and shelves for imported products. When I walk into a supermarket, I must be able to assess whether our local industries are performing by looking at the shelves. If they are mixed up – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – it is my own assessment of the situation and it is democracy, you can also suggest your own assessment.
If these things are mixed up, it really covers, camouflages the productivity of our local industries. Let us have that physical demarcation. If you go to Pick n Pay, we want to see what the local products are, if you go to OK, what are the local products and so on and if you go to Choppies the same.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I come to sluggish growth, between 2009 and 2013, our economy grew by an average of 7%. Of course, this was also a rebound effect; you have to qualify that growth. It is not that phenomenal but it was due to the rebound starting from a low GDP base and that is why the figures were quite phenomenal. Even then, the current growth rate of around 2.5% is not acceptable. This economy has to grow more than 2.5%. The regional growth rate is 4.5%. So our economy has to perform and we need to make sure that we put in place stimulus measures and fiscal policy measures. I hope Minister Chinamasa’s Mid Term Fiscal Policy Review will bring those critical measures to see how we can increase agricultural production. How can we increase mining production, tourism, construction and so on, so that we grow the cake because the smaller the cake, the less the revenue we collect to the fiscus.
Talking about mining, our economy has transformed, agriculture is no longer the pillar of the economy, it has been superceded by mining and mining is now the leading pillar of the economy. The problem with mining is that there are transparency issues, there are accountability issues that compromise the flow of revenue to the Treasury, yet it is now the number one sector that is supposed to drive the economy.
I go to low national savings. Mr. Speaker Sir, the international benchmark of savings to GDP is 40%. It is considered that a ratio of 40% national savings to GDP is requisite enough to make sure that they are investible surpluses or money for on lending to firms and consumers. In our situation our savings rate is only 8% of GDP. If companies and individuals and Government are not saving, where do banks get that money to lend to consumers? In fact, whereas the total deposits that were in the banks by December was about US$5bn, now because of the leakages, the cash that is sitting as deposits in banks is now around US$2bn from US$5bn. So we have lost a lot of money in our financial system. So, savings are very critical because they are the basis for onward lending, they are the basis for financial intermediation.
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