Zimbabwe Roadmap 2024
BUSINESS WRITER
Zimbabwe 2024 outlook and strategy conference, to be held on March 8 at the Celebration Centre in Harare, is expected to tackle a number of headwinds affecting the economy and come up with probable solutions to current economic hardships.
The Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube and the outgoing Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya will be part of the delegation.
Analysts are confident that currency issues, exchange rate conundrum, high inflation, taxes, government expenditure and contractors payments among other issues will be discussed.
The event is being hosted by strategic advisory firm Mark & Associates in partnership with Buy Zimbabwe and will run under the theme: “Exploring Growth Strategies for 2024 and beyond”.
Event organiser and managing partner at Mark & Associates, Batanai Matsika told this publication that the conference promises a line-up of discussions and strategies for Zimbabwe.
“The year 2024, will be marked by policy shifts and uncertainty. Businesses in Zimbabwe should be prepared to enter uncharted economic waters in 2024. The business community is already seized with an ambiguous policy environment and uncertainties around regulations, taxes and revenue measures introduced in the 2024 national budget.
“It is a fact that most African governments are squeezed between poor citizens and big financial holes in public coffers. It is also a reality that depending on aid or hand-outs alone will not do the trick and politicians across Africa are asking more from their tax collectors. It appears that taxing citizens is the only feasible solution within their reach,” Matsika said.
“We should expect a lot of altering of both fiscal and monetary policies in 2024 which would undoubtedly usher in an unstable business environment. High levels of policy uncertainty will also lower investment, employment, and economic output.”
He said different economic shocks have impacted the structure and shape of the country’s economy.
“The informalisation trend in Zimbabwe is expected to continue in 2024. With limited formal employment opportunities — especially for youth — there has been an escalation of self-employment with some citizens moving into vending and small businesses.
“There is clear evidence the Zimbabwe economy is now largely informal given a proliferation of informal tuck-shops and road-side businesses (RSBs). Our assessment of the business environment — taxes, cost of formalisation and regulations — suggests a trend of an explosion of RSBs as the informal economy becomes more entrenched in 2024 and beyond,” Matsika said.
He said the vision of the conference is earmarked on engaging business leaders, policymakers and the investor community and map out strategies for 2024 and beyond.