Zimbabwe’s economy is recovering fast but its people don’t realise it

The Continental Free Trade Zone is going to exacerbate this problem because it opens up access to markets on the Continent for countries like Zimbabwe who are competitive and have the skills and the resources to exploit regional opportunities. When I visited Ireland in the late 70’s just after the UK and Ireland went into the European Union, I found a country plagued by rural poverty and conflict. Most farms did not have clean water or modern facilities; they were almost peasants. Today Ireland has one of the fastest growing economies in the world with a first world economic infrastructure and industries.

Zimbabwe stands on the threshold of new opportunities today – we are slowly getting our act together, our economy is expanding, our local currency stable and undervalued and our productive sector starting to appreciate that we can sell into regional markets. In fact, even now, our industrial exports have doubled in the past year and our farm exports are growing strongly. Global commodity prices are recovering and if we can get our mining industry growing, the opportunities are enormous. The challenge is how to fix our infrastructure so that we can supply a growing economy with clean water, electricity at a reasonable price and transport goods to and from our main markets at a competitive cost. All challenges but also opportunities.

Eddie Cross

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