‘Investors need predictability in Zimbabwe’

Published Aug 6, 2013

Share

‘Investors need predictability in Zimbabwe’

International investors needed to see predictability in Zimbabwe before they committed themselves more fully to the country, the president of the African Development Bank said yesterday, following last week’s elections. Donald Kaberuka also said the slowdown in major emerging markets such as China and in the euro zone threw up risks to the African economy. Zimbabwe’s main stock market index, which has been hitting record highs this year, fell 11 percent yesterday in its first trading day since the election results were released. Kaberuka said investors needed clarity on the country’s direction. “Zimbabwe cannot afford another long period of uncertainty – the country has lost out for a decade,” he said. “I would hope the government would put in place policies which are predictable and create certainty.” Meanwhile, most Zimbabwean banks had stopped making new loans because of concern over the policies President Robert Mugabe would pursue after he won an election described by his main rival as a “sham”, the chief executives of two lenders said yesterday. The banks were concerned that Mugabe might press ahead with plans to force foreign-owned lenders to cede 51 percent stakes to black Zimbabweans or the government. – Reuters Page 19

Zuma signs in new land planning bill

The Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act, which seeks to bridge the racial divide in geographical terms and to transform the settlement patterns of the country “in a manner that gives effect to the key constitutional provisions”, was yesterday signed into law by President Jacob Zuma. In a statement by the Presidency yesterday, it was also announced that Zuma had assented to the Co-operatives Amendment Act, which provides for the establishment, functions and powers of the Co-operatives Development Agency. This is an amendment to the Co-operatives Act, which came into effect on May 2, 2007. The Presidency said that the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act would “address the legacy of the discriminatory, inefficient and costly spatial pattern which puts a considerable burden on the public resources”. – Staff Reporter

Related Topics: