AFRICAN NEWS
Zim government readies for new currency
expenditure, as well as
increasing compliance on the
country’s revenue collection
front. “A lot needs to be done
before the introduction of the
Zimbabwean currency, which
first of all is fiscal discipline,
making sure we bring the
budget deficit into single digits
and that runaway government
expenditure is curtailed.”
He added: “Also making
sure there is compliance on
the revenue collection front —
we need to build the micro-
institutions for full monetary
policy conduct in the sense of
introducing a monetary policy
committee, making sure we
put in place a framework for
inflation targeting but also
growth targeting. Externally
making sure we can begin to
address our arrears in terms
of what we owe to other
The Zimbabwean government
has made progress in terms
of achieving conditions that
need to be fulfilled on the
macroeconomic front before
the reintroduction of local
currency. This follows Finance
and Economic Development
Minister Professor Mthuli
Ncube’s announcement recently
that the country will have its
own currency within the next
12 months as government
moves to deal with inflationary
pressures among other factors
that are impeding economic
turnaround efforts.
In an interview with
Bloomberg in Davos,
Switzerland, in January,
Ncube indicated that he is
implementing a cocktail
of measures that include
enforcing fiscal discipline,
cutting runaway government
Zimbabwe’s Finance and Economic Development Minister,
Professor Mthuli Ncube.
nations, the Bretton institutions
included, but fiscal discipline
is key.
“If you noticed what has been
happening, since October 2018,
the premiums in the parallel
market have stabilised and this
is because of fiscal discipline,”
says Ncube. However, he says
it will take a few months to
Construction ready to start on
cement plant in Tanzania
The Tanzania Investment Centre
(TIC) says construction of a new 7Mt/
year cement plant by China’s Sinoma
and Hengya Cement is due to start
soon. TIC executive director Geoffrey
Mwambe says that the government
body has provided all the necessary
incentives for the USD1-billion project,
according to the Citizen newspaper.
The TIC licence gives investors a
three-year window in which to start
construction, otherwise the licence is
revoked. The Chinese company plans to
build a cement plant with a 1 200MW
captive power plant. At least 70% of
the cement produced at the plant will
be exported and the remainder will be
sold domestically. The unit is expected
to create between 4 000 and 8 000 direct
and indirect jobs.
be able to bring inflation to a
single-digit. This comes as the
Zimbabwe National Statistics
Agency recently revealed
that Zimbabwe’s month-on-
month food and non-alcoholic
beverages inflation rate stood at
9.07% in December 2018 from
the November 2018 rate of
14.53%.
Ghacem aiming for
3Mt production target
in 2019
Morten Gade, the managing director of Ghacem
in Ghana, says that the company plans to make
3Mt of cement in 2019. It also has a target of
producing and distributing 60 million bags
compared to 56 million bags, according to the
Daily Graphic newspaper. The subsidiary of
Germany’s HeidelbergCement operates two
grinding plants in the country.
Lafarge Zimbabwe has
appointed Siame Kaulule
as its chief executive officer
(CEO). Kaulule succeeds
Amal Naiel, who has spent
five years in the post. Kaulule,
a Zambian citizen, joins the
company from LafargeHolcim
in the UK, where he was
general manager for retail.
6_QUARRY SA| MARCH/APRIL 2019
He previously served as
executive in other European
and African markets for the
company, according to the
Business Report newspaper.
He also worked as the
regional marketing director
for the southern Africa
cluster, including Zimbabwe,
Zambia, and Malawi.
Lafarge Zimbabwe appoints
new CEO
Lafarge Zimbabwe has appointed Siame Kaulule as its chief executive officer.
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