eBusiness Weekly
Business Writer
Zimbabwe continues to attract investor interest from across the globe with the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) issuing the highest number of new licences per quarter since 2022.
Presenting the third quarter report for the year 2023, ZIDA CEO Tafadzwa Chinamo said the agency issued 12,5 percent more investment licenses in Q3, in an election period normally associated with a slowdown in investments.
“There were worries, obviously that with the elections there might be a slowdown in investments, but as you see from the numbers for the quarter, and August is really bang in the middle of the third quarter, we didn’t see much of a slowdown,” Chinamo said.
He said the number of licences issued in the third quarter is actually higher than all the other two quarters before that.
ZIDA issued 180 new licences during the period under review overtaking the previous quarterly high of 171 licences issued in Q2.
A total 243 licence applications had been received during the quarter, a record quarterly high as well.
The projected investment for the period at US$3,4 billion was also a record high although 64 percent of the total amount was for one single investment.
The largest projected investment was by New Eagle Industrial Park (Pvt) Ltd which intends to invest US$2,3 billion towards the development of an energy industrial park in Mapinga.
This was followed by Sunone (Pvt) Ltd with US$496,8 million towards the development and operation of a 500MW solar power plants in Mazowe, Manhidze and Mutoko.
The two investments mean that the energy sector got the bulk of the projected investment value of US$2,8 billion.
The mining sector followed after attracting US$411 million worth of investments.
The sector however had the highest number of new licences issued during the quarter.
Manufacturing followed with a projected investment value of US$112 million and 46 new licences issued.
Most of the new licences at 99 were targeted for Harare, a reflection of the continued interest by investors to invest in manufacturing and services sectors, of which Harare has a well-established manufacturing and services ecosystem.
China remained the biggest investor in the country in both value and the number of new licences issued.
Projected Chinese investments have an estimated value of US$2,8 billion while of the 180 new licences issued, 121 went to Chinese companies.
UAE came second with projects of a combined US$498.5 million on the cards.
Year-to-date investments attracted into the country are now valued at $5,244 billion from a total 469 issued licences.
ZIDA says actual investments year-to-date amount to US$1,5 billion with US$207 million having been recorded in the 3rd quarter as verified by ZIDA during licence renewal.
The actual investments are comprised of capital equipment used to produce goods or services, equity injected, and loans used to finance a variety of activities such as purchase of capital equipment or the expansion of a business.
