Tendai Kamhungira 
INFRASTRUCTURE development plays a critical role in promoting economic growth towards the country’s Vision 2030 of becoming a middle-income economy, a Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) official has said.
RBZ principal bank examiner Jerry Borerwe told a Construction Industry Federation of Zimbabwe annual congress, recently held in Victoria Falls, that infrastructure development created massive business opportunities for the country.
The congress was held under the theme: Infrastructure Development by Zimbabweans, the Torchbearer to Vision 2030.
“(The) theme resonates with Vision 2030, NDS1 (National Development Strategy 1), national budget, which focuses on infrastructure development.
“Infrastructure can deliver major benefits in promoting economic growth, poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability, but only when it provides services that respond to effective demand and does so efficiently,” Borerwe said.
He said infrastructure cuts across all sectors of the economy, with the capacity to increase: “business opportunities by making investments more productive, reducing transaction costs, promoting communications, and creating economic and social interactions”.
The congress also touched on a number of subjects including corporate governance as well as the state of the country’s economy.
Speaking at the same event, economist and former monetary policy committee member Eddie Cross, said while the country was enjoying a sound macroeconomic environment, threats of the resumption of devaluation and inflation were still lingering.
“Our exports exceed our import needs and are starting to reach the point where we can service external obligations. Our basic economy is growing strongly,” Cross said.
He however, said that there was a need for the country to solely use its own currency to enable it to manage its value.
“We need to dismantle the whole system of controls over imports and even exports. We need to establish a proper market for foreign exchange inflows that sets a real market price and clears demand. We need to maintain a relatively undervalued currency,” he said.
He further said that the country needs to re-engage and access global markets as well as start building on reserves to finance external obligations.
The Zimbabwean government has been embarking on a number of infrastructure development projects across the country as it also seeks to meet sustainable development goals.
Among some of the projects that the government is currently embarking on is the dualisation of the Harare-Beitbridge Road as well as most highways, urban, and rural roads, which were declared a state of disaster in 2019.
In addition, the impact of climate change has also seen the government move with speed on dam construction as part of its efforts to boost agriculture production, while setting the pace for a US$12 billion mining industry by 2023.
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