NCC operations impacted by limited funding

Audrey Galawu

The National Competitiveness Commission said the Commission’s operations and programmes were impacted by limited funding, which resulted in non-implementation of some Competitiveness Programs.

As a result, the Commission has not been able to cover a wide range of the country on issues which relate to competitiveness.

In the Commission’s 2022 report, NCC Acting chairperson Charles Msipa said the year was characterised by exchange rate volatility, thereby causing inflation that undermined the Commission’s annual budget.

The Commission was allocated ZWL$793 677 by the Standards Development Fund and managed to mobilise ZWL$54 014 998 from Development Partners.

Msipa said the situation was worsened by limited funding for operations and programs resulting in the non-implementation of Competitiveness Programs, high staff turnover, and delayed recruitment of key personnel.

“Although the Covid-19 pandemic had subsided, the macroeconomic challenges characterised by exchange rate volatility eroded the Commission’s annual budget, thereby negatively affecting some of the Commission’s programs.

“The Commission also faced a serious shortage of office space and a lack of operational vehicles resulting in hiring to carry out its activities.

The Commission was classified as a going concern and that it has enough resources to continue operating into the foreseeable future.

However, despite the challenges, the Commission managed to carry out several reports, surveys and partnerships.

The Commission successfully launched the 2021 Zimbabwe Competitiveness Report and developed the 2022 ZCR, in line with its mandate to produce annually benchmarked reports.

“In line with the National Development Strategy 1 objective of the need to promote local production and domesticate value chains to reduce the import bill, ensure food security and job creation, the Commission conducted value chains analysis over the year.

“The Commission launched the Sugar and the Fertilizer Value Chains Competitiveness Reports, which benefited from international benchmarking with top Sugar and Fertilizer producing countries, namely, Brazil and Nigeria.

“Of critical importance, eight out of fifteen recommendations for the Sugar value chain were adopted, including the need for the amendment of the Sugar Production Control Act of 1964, to reflect current developments in the sugar industry.

The NCC produced a draft Leather Value Chain Competitiveness Report, which benefited from international benchmarking with Africa top leather producing countries, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

“During the year, the Commission started the process of developing a Regulatory Impact Assessment framework with support from the Technical Assistance to the Zimbabwe Economic Partnership Agreement funded by the European Union. The goal of implementing RIA is to improve the country’s business regulatory environment,” reads the report.

The Commission also signed MoUs with the World Economic Forum and the International Trade Centre for conducting international competitiveness surveys, which will assist in improving national competitiveness.

The partnerships led to benchmarking techniques, procedures, regulations, and policies, as well as reforms undertaken in the respective countries to enhance national and sectoral competitiveness in Zimbabwe.