Business

  MUREHWA – Cassava Smartech, the Econet group’s soon-to-be-listed division, yesterday successfully hosted a first-of-its-kind EcoFarmer expo at Murewa Centre, 90km northeast of the capital Harare. The farmers’ expo, themed “Taking Farming to the Next Level” was attended by over 3 500 farmers, senior government officials, agriculture input suppliers, provincial and agriculture extension officers from…

HARARE – Australia-listed junior miner, Prospect Resources (Prospect) is to immediately start exploration of lithium at the Lipropeg deposit near Bindura. The Lipropeg deposit is located approximately 16km southeast of the town of Bindura in north eastern Zimbabwe, and is one of at least three projects that the firm is pursuing. The Lipropeg Lithium Project…

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s platinum output for the second quarter of 2018 stood at 3 438 kilogrammes (kg), down 8,2 percent from 3 744 kg produced in the first quarter of 2018, the central bank has said. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) said platinum ore output declined by 10 percent in comparison to the previous…

HARARE – The financing of a budget deficit predominantly through domestic debt, such as has been the case in Zimbabwe, leads to low economic growth rates, as well as subdued investment and entrepreneurial activities, Oswald Mungule, a policy analyst, has said. Treasury says the country’s domestic debt has grown more than 3 000 percent since…

HARARE – The Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) says government should restore freehold ownership rights in order to unlock the collateral value of agricultural land in Zimbabwe. As part of its submissions to the 2019 National Budget consultations, the CFU said the main problem facing Zimbabwe’s agriculture and the rest of the economy was the lack…

HARARE – Finance minister Mthuli Ncube said on Wednesday the new tax on electronic payments was a painful but necessary measure and urged Zimbabweans to be prepared to go through temporarily turbulent times after which the economy will stabilise. The imposition of the levy which will apply on mobile and card payments and bank transfers…

HARARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa is extending the term of central bank governor John Mangudya which is due to expire in February, a spokesperson said yesterday. Mangudya has been in the post since March 2014 and is widely seen as a guarantor of monetary stability, although the Reserve Bank (RBZ) has in recent days been…

HARARE – Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) chief executive officer Karikoga Kaseke has read the riot act to tourism sector players after they sharply increased their prices in a move that risks driving customers away. Kaseke — who had a fierce run-in with the management of a local hotel last week over their pricing regime —…

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s regulatory authorities have granted authority to open four special economic zones that offer investors greater incentives and fewer restrictions than available to date in the country, the Zimbabwe Special Economic Zones Authority (Sez) CEO Edwin Kondo has said. The new economic zones will be in Bulawayo, Victoria Falls, Mutare and Beitbridge. The…

HARARE – A South Africa-registered firm has tabled before the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangundya a bailout package to import fuel and basic commodities into Zimbabwe as the economy sinks into recession. African Medallion Group (AMG) said — in a letter to Mangudya — the move is aimed at helping Zimbabwe out of…