Buy Zimbabwe Campaign Chairman, Mr. Munyaradzi Hwengwere has advised the government to incentivize local companies by giving them loans, so that they have sufficient capacity to produce and meet local demand and thus saving foreign currency by reducing the import bill.
He said local companies which produce goods must be given tax breaks by the government, so that they produce cheap products for the market.
He made the statements in an interview with 263 times in Harare today on the sidelines of a presser that the organization held.
“There is a possibility that we can counter high prices, because we can produce cooking oil from cotton seed, but now we import from Russia and Ukraine, prices have gone haywire the world over and we became exposed.
“What we need to do is invest much in our local value chains, cotton in particular, sunflower and maize, to go back where we used to be.
“Government through the finance ministry should reward companies that produce higher local content with tax breaks and loans, so that we don’t import basic commodities,” he said.
Hwengwere said Buy Zimbabwe will engage the government on July 6 for a public procurement conference, where they will urge it to promote local companies.