Business

HARARE – French firms Microcred Group (Microcred) and AfricInvest Finance Sector Fund (AfricInvest) have acquired local micro-lending company, MicroKing Finance (MicroKing). Market watchers say the development confirms France’s commitment to strengthen bilateral relations with Zimbabwe as well as grow the southern African country’s moribund economy through job creation. Microcred and AfricInvest yesterday confirmed the acquisition…

HARARE – The Zimbabwe Asset Management Company (Zamco) has assumed about $14 million of Metbank’s debts to regional lenders, as the bank moves to clean its balance sheet. The financial institution’s chairman Wilson Manase yesterday said of the money, $9,3 million had been taken over by the government special purpose vehicle as a result of…

HARARE – Local property firms say the country’s tough economic conditions are affecting occupancies, knocking rentals, driving voids and in some cases leading to downward reviews of lease agreements. In the past two weeks, Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed property groups have revealed that the prevailing economic conditions have also led to a decrease in rental incomes….

HARARE – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Zimbabwe needs to act now if it is to reverse the deepening economic difficulties. The institution’s head of mission to Zimbabwe Domenico Fanizza said the investment-hungry country needed not wait any longer, but act on its policies. Our senior business reporter Ndakaziva Majaka speaks to Fanizza, who…

HARARE – Zimbabwe has remained one of the most repressed economies in the world in the past decade due to rampant corruption and government mismanagement, according to the latest Index of Economic Freedom. The index — published annually by the Wall Street Journal and think tank the Heritage Foundation — judges economic freedom on four…

HARARE – Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board chairperson Monica Chinamasa on Tuesday said Zimbabwe is likely to register a 20 percent decline in the golden leaf production this year due to the El Nino effect. This means that the country’s tobacco production which reached a peak of 210 million kilogrammes (kg) in 2014 is on…

HARARE – Listed property developer Pearl Properties (Pearl) says it is yet to secure about $35 million from offshore funders for the construction of a state-of-the-art bus terminus at Fourth Street Station. The company’s managing director, Francis Nyambiri, yesterday said Pearl had been unable to secure “competitive money” to finance the construction of bus terminus….

HARARE – Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed financial services group, ZB Financial Holdings (ZB), yesterday said it recorded a 191 percent increase in profits to $8,9 million last year from a loss of $9,8 million in 2014. ZB chief executive Ron Mutandagayi told analysts that the company, which performed exceptionally well in spite of the volatile economic…

HARARE – Financial services group First Mutual Holdings (First Mutual) says it is banking on Zimbabwe’s re-engagement discussions with multilateral lenders to access a capital injection and boost operations. “We are sure the re-engagement talks are going to be successful and we will get equity partners from the arrangement. We are very positive we will…

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) are expected to decline to nine percent in 2016 from about 14,2 percent, following the establishment of a government special purpose vehicle to house bad loans, an industry body has predicted. A non-performing loan is described by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a credit that has not been…