HARARE, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's manufacturing sector remains optimistic despite operational challenges, a recent 2022 manufacturing sector survey has indicated.
Conducted by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), the country's largest manufacturing lobby group, and presented on Thursday, the annual survey provided a detailed insight into the performance of the manufacturing sector in 2022.
The survey showed that investment was still significant in 2022 despite the operating challenges, with about 40 percent of the sample having invested in 2022, up from 38 percent in 2021. About 101 million U.S. dollars was invested in 2022, a decrease from 147 million dollars the previous year by local companies.
The survey showed that 47 percent of manufacturing firms across sectors upgraded their technology, although a small number downgraded.
In 2022, industrial capacity utilization stood at 56.1 percent, up from 52.2 percent the previous year. In terms of employment, 40.2 percent of firms registered growth, while retrenchment was at 16.8 percent. Out of the captured 409 firms from the survey, 19 percent are into exports, and they exported 24.5 percent of their output.
However, manufacturers said load shedding, particularly in the fourth quarter of 2022, high inflation, tight liquidity conditions introduced in August 2022, delayed payment of contractors, and the introduction of 200 percent interest rates in July were some of the factors that hindered the growth of the local manufacturing sector.
Speaking at the presentation of the survey in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare, CZI President Kurai Matsheza said the manufacturing sector is the pivot of Zimbabwe's industrial transformation, and is central to the country's goal of becoming an upper middle-income economy by 2030.
"Highly industrialized nations are prosperous nations, and we believe that it is industrialization that is going to deliver economic transformation, and by that extension, manufacturing should be able to deliver that economic transformation," he said.
Matsheza noted that the rate of growth needed in order for the sector to get Zimbabwe to the upper middle-income status is no less than 20 percent per annum.
Furthermore, Matsheza said the performance of the sector during the periods of stability shows that stability is a good thing for the sector. "Sustaining stability is, therefore, one of the elusive targets which need to be achieved in order to sustain growth. Retiring our recurring problems of currency instability and unstable power supply are going to be key as we move forward."
Speaking at the same occasion, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor John Mangudya said the macroeconomic fundamentals remain firm.
"If we look from a macro perspective, we continue to have a tight monetary policy stance and a tight fiscal policy stance in this economy, so those are the two frameworks that we are using, and out of that we are seeing that the economy continues to be resilient in terms of the balance of payment position," he said.
Speaking at the same event, Minister of Industry and Commerce Sekai Nzenza noted the remarkable progress made in the manufacturing sector. "Now we witness remarkable progress in the manufacturing sector ranging from increased, capacity utilization, increased exports, and indeed increased investments."
She further commended manufacturers for their resilience despite the operating environment characterized by high inflation.
