Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. The government is mulling reintroducing a policy that will see it buying certain vehicles from local manufacturers only in order to support local industries, The Herald reports.
This was revealed by Finance Minister Mthili Ncube as he was speaking to ZTN last week. Ncube said the move was aimed at supporting industry under the National Development Strategy (NDS1) 2021-25.
According to the publication:
..the policy initiatives will also align the country with requirements of the African Continental Free Trade Areas (AfCTA) of a threshold of 35 percent local content for products from members of the trade block.
An expert on National Development Strategy 1 also spoke to the publication and said:
In addition to local production of buses, a strategy to enhance local assembly of private vehicles will be developed and once implemented; it will have a far reaching impact in terms of jobs and the import bill.
The government has been importing some top of the range vehicles for government departments and certain ministries. Last year only, Zimbabwe reportedly imported over US$70 million worth of public buses and delivery trucks.
More: The Herald
