CLOSE to 5 000 textile industry workers lost their jobs between 2007 and 2009 as the effects of cheaper imported materials continue to emasculate local products.

ZIMBABWE has experienced a significant rise in the price of residential properties and rentals during the first quarter of the year as a result of property shortages, limited mortgages and liquidity challenges.

INDIVIDUALS and corporates are forking out between US$25 and US$50 monthly in bank transactions, far above regional averages.

LACK of long-term international lines of credit, punitive interest rates charged by local financiers, coupled with erratic electricity supply is threatening the recovery of the manufacturing sector currently operating at 35% capacity.

ENERGY problems besetting the country are set to worsen for the rest of this month as it emerged yesterday that only one unit at Hwange Thermal Power Station is operational.

ANY reasonable person with basic macroeconomics knowledge is unlikely to have believed that the economy could be performing quite as projected in the 2010 Fiscal Policy Statement (FPS). 

FINANCE minister Tendai Biti last week stopped short of saying Zimbabwe desperately needs new shareholders when he said if the country was a company, it would have been declared bankrupt.

AROUND seven tonnes of gold are expected this year as the sector’s anticipated revival is likely to be slow and painful.

WHEN inflation soared out of control in 2007, President Robert Mugabe had a quick solution to the problem — cut prices of goods by half and impose a freeze.

THE average loan-to-deposit ratio for Zimbabwe’s commercial banks last year was 48,7% from about 72% in 2008 as banks slowed down on lending due to the liquidity crisis which followed after the economy was dollarised.

LONZIM has made new appointments at Leopard Rock Hotel as it seeks to make its investments in Zimbabwe competitive.

A BULL run is expected on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) in the short-term as investors take advantage of low prices on the market following the extension by another month of the deadline for submitting indigenisation plans for companies that failed to do so by April 15.

MAINTAINING the growth momentum in the economic stabilisation phase is a very crucial element in creating both private and public sector confidence especially when coming out of a 10-year recession.

AIRLINES around the world have lost more than US$1,7 billion due to the volcanic ash cloud, says industry body IATA.

ZIMBABWE Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) is owed close to US$350 million by domestic and industrial consumers, with more than 100 000 domestic customers in Harare and Bulawayo not having paid their bills since February last year.

NEEDGATE Mining has renewed its bid for a 15% stake in Zimbabwe Platinum Mines (Zimplats), a company official said.

OK ZIMBABWE has shown its attractiveness after raising US$15 million through a renounceable rights offer in a rather dry market.

GERMAN Ambassador to Zimbabwe Albrecht Conze has welcomed Cabinet’s decision to suspend the controversial indigenisation regulations, saying this will give the government opportunity to consult widely and come up with constructive empowerment laws.

ABC HOLDINGS chief executive officer Doug Munatsi says government should not force financial services institutions to “cede” ownership to native Zimbabweans but should offer preferential treatment to indigenous banks in its quest to economically empower locals.

Mining giant Rio Tinto produced 3,5 million carats of gold worldwide during the first quarter of 2010, a 36% decrease compared to the same period last year and a 21% decrease compared to the fourth quarter of 2009.