No need to panic, we have been at war for two decades but we are still standing- Mnangagwa

SOME within our business community have begun showing jitters over the impact of the ongoing Russian Special Operations in Ukraine.

This is to be expected.

Any war, let alone one pitting a superpower against its rival bloc, albeit through a proxy, inevitably generates great perturbations in the global economy.

And in slightly over two weeks of Russian military operation in Ukraine, and sabre rattling by countries comprising NATO, global tremors have been ample and unsettling.

Fossil fuels and gas markets are roiling; the global cereal market is topsy-turvy.

Given the centrality of Russia and Belarus in production of fertilisers, the pressure will not abet.

Across these key commodities of life, prices continue to spike.

Petroleum moguls, largely from the West, are reaping windfalls from disruptions and disturbances their home governments have caused.

Global supply chains, already strained to the limit by the global Covid-19 pandemic, are now close to breaking point.

The global economy is being buffeted by raging headwinds of pandemics, war and rumours of war.

Our Zimbabwean economy which was on path to recovery and growth, cannot avoid these jolts and bumps.

This is a situation we must meet head-on so we cushion our economy.

My piece this week addresses this very subject, hopefully laying a framework for a robust national response.

Like most small economies, we are exposed.

We meet our fuel needs through imports.

Muzarabani oil explorations are still quite some way off before we begin to be counted as a fossil oil economy.

Until recently, we have been meeting our cereal deficits, principally wheat, through imports from Eastern Europe and Latin America.

Fertilisers, too, have been coming from Eastern Europe.

There are many other imports we get from the same regions, in order to grow our economy.

We are thus in the direct line of shocks.

Above all, Russia is a significant player in our foreign direct investment calculus.

She is active in the mining sector, notably in platinum through Great Dyke Investments, and in diamond sector through Alrosa.

Great Dyke alone needs US$2 billion to take off.

Continued next page

(366 VIEWS)