Ebook132 pages3 hours
Trade in Zimbabwe: Changing Incentives to Enhance Competitiveness
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this ebook
In Zimbabwe, trade has been a driver of economic growth, rising incomes, and progressive empowerment of Zimbabweans through rising standards of living and the promise of better jobs. Since 1980, through good years and bad years, increases in exports have been positively associated with increases in national income. Zimbabwe's location and resource base, together with a low-cost but relatively well educated labor force, have endowed it with a naturally high trade ratio built on a diversified base that facilitates using trade as an engine of growth. While trade volumes have rebounded smartly from the deep recession of 2007-2008, these do not offset other worrisome longer-term trends:
• Export growth during the last decade has been lacklustre and failed to drive high growth.
• Agricultural exports, other than tobacco, have lost their once dominant role in the region, and are no longer a source of diversification.
• Manufacturing has withered in a continuing secular decline.
• Zimbabwe’s export basket has become less diversified and more dependent on a narrow range of mineral and, to a lesser extent, agricultural products.
In short, exports have become less diversified, less-technologically sophisticated, and less labor-intensive - and ever more dependent on a few large mining activities to provide foreign exchange and employment.
This report traces the roots of this poor performance to several policy issues: poor predictability of macroeconomic policy and economic governance has created an unfavorable climate for private investment and trade; a tariff structure that dampens export profitability; industrial policies - indigenization policy in particular - that undermine investor confidence and inhibits private investment; and finally, competition-limiting policies toward services that limit connectivity of Zimbabweans and raise trade costs.
The good news arising from the study is that the remedies for these policy shortcomings lie in Zimbabwean hands. If the government were to adopt reforms that reconfigure economy-wide incentives and trade and industrial policies, it could promote sustained growth, economic diversification and empowerment of poor people.
• Export growth during the last decade has been lacklustre and failed to drive high growth.
• Agricultural exports, other than tobacco, have lost their once dominant role in the region, and are no longer a source of diversification.
• Manufacturing has withered in a continuing secular decline.
• Zimbabwe’s export basket has become less diversified and more dependent on a narrow range of mineral and, to a lesser extent, agricultural products.
In short, exports have become less diversified, less-technologically sophisticated, and less labor-intensive - and ever more dependent on a few large mining activities to provide foreign exchange and employment.
This report traces the roots of this poor performance to several policy issues: poor predictability of macroeconomic policy and economic governance has created an unfavorable climate for private investment and trade; a tariff structure that dampens export profitability; industrial policies - indigenization policy in particular - that undermine investor confidence and inhibits private investment; and finally, competition-limiting policies toward services that limit connectivity of Zimbabweans and raise trade costs.
The good news arising from the study is that the remedies for these policy shortcomings lie in Zimbabwean hands. If the government were to adopt reforms that reconfigure economy-wide incentives and trade and industrial policies, it could promote sustained growth, economic diversification and empowerment of poor people.
Related to Trade in Zimbabwe
Related ebooks
Leveraging Export Diversification in Fragile Countries: The Emerging Value Chains of Mali, Chad, Niger, and Guinea Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChampions Wanted Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsServices for Trade Competitiveness: Country and Regional Assessments of Services Trade Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAid for Trade in Asia and the Pacific: Leveraging Trade and Digital Agreements for Sustainable Development Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJobs or Privileges Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfrica in the New Trade Environment: Market Access in Troubled Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSustaining Trade Reform: Institutional Lessons from Argentina and Peru Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSustaining Trade Reform Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLight Manufacturing in Vietnam Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLight Manufacturing in Vietnam: Creating Jobs and Prosperity in a Middle-Income Economy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLight Manufacturing in Zambia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLight Manufacturing in Zambia: Job Creation and Prosperity in a Resource-Based Economy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Business For You
Robert's Rules Of Order Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High, Third Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of J.L. Collins's The Simple Path to Wealth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Law of Connection: Lesson 10 from The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Collaborating with the Enemy: How to Work with People You Don’t Agree with or Like or Trust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Set for Life: An All-Out Approach to Early Financial Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Richest Man in Babylon: The most inspiring book on wealth ever written Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Capitalism and Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Emotional Intelligence: Exploring the Most Powerful Intelligence Ever Discovered Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, 20th Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat: The BRRRR Rental Property Investment Strategy Made Simple Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Intelligent Investor, Rev. Ed: The Definitive Book on Value Investing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tools Of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Get Ideas Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Trade in Zimbabwe
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Trade in Zimbabwe - Richard Newfarmer
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1