Carte Blanche with Perry

  From its exclusion, albeit voluntarily from the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings to the recently concluded US – Africa leaders’ summit in which over 50 heads of African states were invited in Washington DC, Zimbabwe has been like a black sheep missing out on such key events. Certainly, these and such other international gatherings are not make or break events, whose failure to attend would spell doom for countries. The State run media in Zimbabwe, certainly made this clear as it published an article that branded the August 4 to 6 event as, “President Obama`s speed dating exercise.” In it, the argument is made that it is inconceivable how anything significant will be achieved in a mere 3 days, when the Obama administration has ignored Africa for 5 years. The summit is viewed just as a talk shop and a series of lectures by Barack Obama, in which African leaders hold no sway. It's just that at a time when Zimbabwe has been pushing a re-engagement ag...

Zimbabwe`s Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa Recently, there have been amplified calls by government authorities in appealing for Foreign Direct Investment. The importance of foreign investment cannot be over-emphasised, especially for an economy at a precipice like ours.  In Mozambique for instance, during the past year, the country registered a 30 percent increase in its FDI flows to $7, 1 billion. It is no coincidence that the International Monetary Fund forecasts its economy to grow by as much as 8 percent this year alone, making it one of the leading ‘frontier market’ economies. What is clear from this example is the crucial role that capital accumulation can play in fuelling economic growth. The Zimbabwean government`s economic blueprint (ZimAsset) which is a set of policies meant to induce economic recovery requires at least US$27 billion for its successful implementation. In the policy document, the government emphasises on mobilising funding for the programme ...