President shares key national milestones in SONA

President shares key national milestones in SONA

 

Pretty Manyewe

 

President Mnangagwa has assured Zimbabweans that the country’s development plans will go ahead despit illegal sanctions.

Addressing the country during today

State of the Nation’s Address at the new parliament building, President Mnangagwa said the country is accelerating the implementation of the National Development Strategy 1.

Despite negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the illegal sanctions imposed on the country, the country’s socio-economy is going against all odds and making significant growth towards the vision 2030 which aims to put Zimbabwe into an upper middle class economy.

“The period since my last address to this Parliament has seen unprecedented socio-economic growth as well as the accelerated implementation of the NDS1.The country’s foreign currency earnings reflected a 32.4% increase in the last eight months from US$5.8 billion to US$7.7 billion,” said President Mnangagwa.

President Mnangagwa said this was achieved through tight monetary and fiscal policy measures to stabilize the economy, and curtail speculative borrowing and other rent-seeking behaviour, are bearing fruit.

“Gold coins valued at ZW$9.5 billion were sold as at 30th September, 2022. Smaller denominations of the gold coins have been unveiled by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to broaden access and inclusivity. Month-on-month inflation for September significantly declined to 3.5% from 12.4% in August, 2022. Every Zimbabwean must jealously guard this stability,” said President Mnangagwa.

The President also spoke on the significant growth in the manufacturing sector, saying; “The rebound of the manufacturing sector is encouraging, with industrial capacity utilization exceeding 66% in 2022, up from 47% in 2020.

 

The implementation of the Local Content Strategy has seen the introduction of new products that are critical in the agriculture, mining and transport sectors, among others.”

The infrastructure development is another sign on the strides made in the economic growth if the country, from road rehabilitation, airport expansions ans new airports.

 

President Mnangagwa said the envisaged economic growth is reliant on critical infrastructure, which is currently being built.

“More than 340 kilometres 6 of the Harare-Beitbridge road has been completed and opened to traffic. Construction of the Mbudzi Interchange is also well underway. Local companies contracted on the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme have created both direct and indirect jobs.

 

Considerable progress has been made on airstrips such as Binga and Bumi Hills, while the upgrading and modernisation of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport is on schedule. Phase One of the Beitbridge Border Post Modernisation Project is complete and now open to the public,” said the President.

 

President Mnangagwa added that the tourism and hospitality sector is on a rapid post-COVID-19 recovery path and more airlines are servicing our routes.