PRESIDENT Mnangagwa yesterday met with his Presidential
Advisory Council (PAC) in order to come up with solutions to the economic
problems facing the country in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The PAC meeting that was convened at the State House
yesterday, and involves the business community, was held at a time when
Zimbabwe is experiencing economic shocks caused by the effects of Covid-19,
Cyclone Idai and the impact of illegal sanctions imposed on the country by the
Western world.
At the same time some unscrupulous businesspeople have
taken advantage of the situation to manipulate the exchange rate, much to the
detriment of the broader masses.
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister
Monica Mutsvangwa confirmed that the meeting between President Mnangagwa and
the PAC board was seeking to find solutions that will take the nation forward.
“We want to thank the President Mnangagwa who created this
platform so that the business and Government can actually talk together. The
meeting was very candid and was looking at the state of the economy,” said
Minister Mutsvangwa.
She said PAC would serve as President Mnangagwa’s sounding
board on key economic reforms, issues and initiatives in line with the
President’s ‘Zimbabwe is Open for Business and national dialogue mantra’ and
also within the policy framework of the Transitional Stabilisation Programme,
an initiative that seeks to set the country’s economy on the recovery path
after years of stagnation.
“This (platform) has been created by the President who
really wants all Zimbabweans to come on board to talk about issues which take
the country forward. We learnt a lot. The presentations were very good, very
candid, and I think we all benefited immensely from the discussions,” said
Minister Mutsvangwa.
The meeting, that was also attended by Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mangudya, Finance Minister Prof Mthuli Ncube and
several Government ministers, also tackled the performance of the country’s
dollar against the United States dollar on the parallel market.
PAC chairperson Mr Edwin Manikai said the no-holds-barred
meeting also addressed the issue of price increases that have negatively
affected most of the country’s populace.
“These are not easy times, obviously we are going through
Covid-19 and the economic meltdown.
“Before that, we already had Cyclone Idai, drought and if
we put all that together we are going through challenging times in health,
economic and social development issues,” he said.
In the time of distress, Mr Manika said the PAC, which
includes captains of industry, economists and other eminent Zimbabweans is
fully behind the President.
“The PAC stands together with President Mnangagwa to share
some ideas on how we think we can address those three areas, from the health
side, economic and social development.
“As we all know we have issues on the value of our currency
against convertible currencies going on about two weeks. There is a total
collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar against the United States dollar feeding into
inflation, and feeding into the cost of goods and commodities for our people.
So today we come to discuss with His Excellence some interventions that we
believe will assist. Some are tactful in terms of closing loopholes. The main
ones have to be structural to deal with fundamentals of our economy,” he said.
On the other hand, PAC deputy chairman Mr Trevor Ncube said
although the meeting was a tough one, solutions were found.
“We are happy with the progress that was made with
everybody in the room putting their heads together, ideas together in terms of
how we move our country forward. It was robust. It was tough but we made a lot
of progress. We are very passionate about sending the message that it’s not a
game and pass kind of approach that the PAC works to add value to what the
Government is doing. In doing that the Government also has a responsibility to
push some of the things that we put before it,” he said.
President Mnangagwa set up a 26-member advisory council,
comprising of entrepreneurs, business executives, intellectuals and church
leaders to advise him on policy matters.
And in the wake of the devastating effects of Covid-19,
which has wrecked world economies and killed more than 300 000 people, Zimbabwe
has not been spared.
To mitigate the impact of Covid-19 the Government has put
in place measures to assist the needy during times of distress.
The PAC was established principally to advise and assist
President Mnangagwa in formulating key economic policies and strategies that
push Vision 2030, which seeks to make the country an upper middle-income
economy with a per capita income of between $3 896 and $12 055. Herald
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