Investment can help African countries be ‘more than consumers’
A financial institution based in Nigeria says it has earmarked US $400 million for industrialisation projects in Zimbabwe.
African Export-Import Bank made the announcement at a recent investment conference focusing on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) intergovernmental organisation in Harare.
Reports of the meeting said the money will be available to help companies based in Zimbabwe to carry out industrialisation project across the region. SADC has 16 member states with an estimated combined annual gross domestic product of $600 billion.
A government minister, Mangaliso Ndlovu, welcomed the announcement. He said industrialisation across SADC was important if the region is to avoid becoming “merely a consumer of products”.
He said this investment would tie in with an industrialisation programme that is already under way in Zimbabwe. Projects in the leather value chain are part of this.
