Story by Davison Vandira
Increased accessibility to raw materials and inputs across the country’s productive sectors has culminated in improved capacity utilisation.
The figures have jumped to around 65 per cent in 2022 from 47.5 per cent in 2021.
Zimbabwe has moved a lot of mountains in the year 2022 driven mainly by mining activities which grew from 61% in 2021 to 83% in 2022 followed by tourism, which leapt from 21% to 57% due to the removal of covid-19 induced lockdowns.
This was confirmed by the State of Industry and Commerce Survey conducted by the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce.
Financial and insurance services also contributed immensely to the encouraging overall capacity utilisation as it moved from 27% to 50% confirming the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe statistics on financial inclusion.
The capital-intensive manufacturing and construction sectors which benefited from government capital projects being implemented across the country recorded a growth of 7% from 53% to 60% which directly feeds into increasing levels of employment a key target of the Second Republic.
According to the ZNCC Survey Report, the key drivers of high capacity utilisation were the availability and easy access to markets, use of local raw materials and access to the RBZ Auction foreign currency, among other factors.
With power outages and obsolete equipment affecting the achievement of full capacity utilisation, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has since pledged to plug the gap in 2023.
