HARARE: A Zimbabwean Cabinet Minister has said that the government is waiting for the industry to bring a list of more goods and products to be placed under imports restriction. Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha said it was entirely on industry to provide a list of products they intended to be placed under imports restriction by the Ministry’s Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016:-Control of Goods (Open General Import Licence). Last month the ministry placed 36 goods under SI 64 of 2016 and these including canned fruits and vegetables.
“The whole list (of goods to be placed under imports restrictions) came from the private sector. It’s not us (Government), so it’s entirely up to them to come forward and tell us which products they want to be included on the SI 64 of 2016. These are things that come under consideration and we discuss with the private sector,” said Minister Bimha.
“Other companies that are not on SI 64 of 2016 have already come up and said, look we are able to meet national demand. So there is a lot of companies that are producing products locally that are able to meet demand and that would like to be on that list of restrictions as we continue our import substitution programme or restricting our imports so that we reduce our current deficit. We are also still compiling the list for submission to Ministry of Industry (and Commerce) but these include ox-drawn ploughs and implements that can be manufactured locally,” Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president Mr Busisa Moyo was quoted as having said.
Captains of industry argue that the SI 64 of 2016 would stimulate local demand towards locally manufactured goods and enhance capacity utilisation as well as improve industrialisation and employment creation.
