Various Bills To Improve Ease And Cost Of Doing Business In Zim To Be Fast Tracked

The National Budget 2018 is exactly what we were hoping for when it comes to measures to attract and retain foreign investment. Finance Minister Chinamasa revealed the government’s plans to make it worthwhile for investors to come to Zimbabwe with their briefcases full of cash knowing they can get reasonable returns.

The Minister revealed that Zimbabwe ranks a lowly 159 out of 190 countries when it comes to ease of doing business and so the government is implementing various Ease of Doing Business Reforms.

Of course the biggest deterrent to investors flocking to Zimbabwe was the Indegenisation Act which required foreigners to give up 51% ownership of their companies. This has been amended, removing the 51% requirement.

With that fixed, the government is trying to make it easier for businesses to set up shop and operate in Zimbabwe.

We have remarked in the past on how it’s too expensive to do business in Zimbabwe. We had the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) calling for ZESA tariffs to be slashed pointing out that ZESA charged way more than the regional average. They also showed how much water was expensive in Zimbabwe compared to our neighbours.

It was also ridiculously tedious to set up a business in Zimbabwe and the government is aware and in the National Budget it was revealed that there already has been some progress made:

• Reduction in the number of days for getting construction Permits, from 448 days to 120 days
• Reduction in the period for property registration, from the previous 36 days to 14 days, and decentralisation to Local Authorities
• Investment in such enabling infrastructure as ICT, utilities, and roads rehabilitation.

Minister Chinamasa then gave a list of some of the Bills that will be fast-tracked to address the above:

• Insolvency Bill;
• Estate Administrators Bill;
• Deeds Amendment Bill;
• Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Bill;
• Shop Licensing Amendment Bill;
• Public Sector Governance Bill.

We will have to wait and see what those Bills contain and what impact they will have but we are optimistic.