ZIMBABWE expects to produce a paltry 102 000 tonnes of wheat this year against an annual demand of 450 000 tonnes.

THE Africa Development Bank (AfDB) has asked the Zimbabwean government to be proactive in the resuscitation of the economy before taking its begging bowl to foreign financial institutions.

South Africa’s biggest insurer Sanlam Ltd will buy a 40% stake in a Zimbabwean insurance firm, it said on Thursday, betting on the industry’s growth in a country facing a liquidity crunch and weak domestic savings.

THE Bulawayo based Association for Business in Zimbabwe (ABUZ) has called for the suspension of the recently introduced Consignment-Based Conformity Assessment (CBCA) programme aimed at reducing the importation of substandard goods.

Shoe manufacturer, Bata, is empowering 100 women and youths in rural areas who will market the company’s products in different areas for a fee, managing director Ronjoy Sengupta has said.

THE non-performing loans (NPLs) have been further reduced to 15% by the end of the first quarter of the year and the banking sector has submitted $383 million bad loans to Zimbabwe Asset Management Company (Zamco), an official has said.

Caledonia Mining Corp Chairman Leigh Wilson Monday said the company is focused on disposing of its non-core operations and improving its flagship Blanket gold mine in Matabeleland South, and proposed a new incentive plan for the company’s executives that is directly linked to the performance of the mine.

BATA Shoe Company managing director Ronjoy Sengupta yesterday said the travel and trade embargo imposed by the European Union (EU) on Zimbabwe did not have any direct effects on his company’s local operations as the shoe manufacturer was part of a global business empire.

LATEST figures released by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) has revealed that 227 000 employees were retrenched between 2011 and 2014 as companies downsized their staffing levels in light of the shrinking economy.

The curtain comes down today at the 56th edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) after yet another low-key exhibition attributed to the depressed economy.

Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa today (Wednesday) said operationalisation of the Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA) One-Stop Shop Investment Centre (OSS) is a prerequisite to revive the comatose economy in Zimbabwe that will simplify and quicken investment processes.

The fabrication of the process plant for Aim-listed Premier African Minerals’ 49%-owned RHA tungsten project, in Kamativi, Matabeleland North, is expected to be completed by the end of May.

THE Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) Company has announced entry charges for this year’s annual exhibition which roars into life tomorrow.

Premier African Minerals has tied up another tranche of financing for its RHA tungsten mine in Kamativi, Matabeleland North.

The Zimbabwe government’s domestic borrowing rose by 28.76% to $549.18 million in February from $426.50 million in the same period a year ago, the central bank said on Thursday.

Electricity disruptions in South Africa could put the manufacturing industry in recession and hold back economic growth further this year while rising energy prices will stoke inflation into next year, a Reuters poll found.

The Zimbabwe – Europe Business Information Centre (Zim- EBIC) was launched in Bulawayo yesterday to link local companies with their European counterparts.

The Deposit Protection Corporation (DPC) has moved into the collapsed AfrAsia Bank after being granted a provisional liquidation order by the High Court and has started paying out $4,5 million to depositors whose funds were locked in the bank.

The number of South African tourists to Zimbabwe for the year ended September 30 2014 has fallen drastically, if figures released by a leading Zimbabwean hotel group are anything to go by. Hotel group and Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed African Sun said tourist arrivals from South Africa into its hotels went down by 17% for the […]

JOHANNESBURG – Zimbabwe has investment potential for South Africa, with a diversity of resources, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa said on Friday. “We are not a basket case. The potential we have is enormous,” he told a business breakfast in Johannesburg hosted by Zimbabwean newspaper The Herald Business. “We are open and ready […]

The High Court has placed three firms in key industries under judicial management and provisional liquidation as the economic slowdown continues to stalk companies grappling with reduced capacity and debt.

A Bulawayo based marketing company, Redefinition, has launched an events management and hospital business magazine, which it says will put local businesses on the global map.

THE business community yesterday mourned the death of prominent Bulawayo economic analyst Eric Bloch, describing him as an astute accountant and businessman in his own right who was a valuable asset for the city he put on the map with his analytic economic prowess.

THE GOVERNMENT is set to move in and plug leakages in the mining sector where minerals have been spirited out of the country, Mines and Mining Development minister Walter Chidhakwa has said.

Zimbabwe’s annualised inflation rate shed 0,16% points to 0,15% in August compared to 0,31% recorded in July, as deflationary pressures persist, the national statistics agency said on Monday.

Gold edged higher yesterday as Asian equities tumbled, but the metal continued to struggle near an eight-month low due to weak physical demand and fears the Federal Reserve may signal an early interest rate increase at this week’s policy meeting.