{"id":46124,"date":"2021-09-03T19:51:24","date_gmt":"2021-09-03T17:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?p=46124"},"modified":"2021-09-03T19:25:38","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T17:25:38","slug":"businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits","title":{"rendered":"Businesses Fight Rule That Cuts Profits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Zimbabwe<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Global Press Journal<\/b> – TOBACCO grower Shava Manomano fumes as he sits on a bale of yellow-gold leaves, watching buyers move along an auction floor in Harare, Zimbabwe\u2019s capital. The buyers, wearing face masks, partially fill the cavernous, well-lit space. The aroma of tobacco bathes the room.<\/p>\n

Manomano sold his tobacco for United States dollars. But he\u2019s angry because the Zimbabwean government converts 40% of that foreign income into local currency.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy tobacco is bought and paid for in U.S. dollars,\u201d he says, \u201cbut then I get a portion of that payment in local currency, which is heavily affected by inflation. At the end of the day, I incur losses.\u201d<\/p>\n

To stretch his foreign currency, the farmer from Chiweshe, in northern Zimbabwe, turns to the unofficial parallel, or black, market. But \u201cthe prices that you get on the parallel market are ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the country\u2019s central bank, raised from 30% to 40% the portion of foreign earnings that is automatically changed into local currency \u2014 known as the export surrender. Officially, the increase affects all sectors involved in exports, including agriculture, mining, manufacturing and transport.<\/p>\n

It has pinched the profits and growth of small enterprises in particular. It also threatens to undermine President Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s mantra that the country is \u201copen for business.\u201d<\/p>\n

For two decades, corruption, hyperinflation, government overspending and uneven application of reforms have stunted Zimbabwe\u2019s economic growth, and this latest policy has drained the confidence of potential foreign investors.<\/p>\n

Zimbabwe already was scuffling to attract investors, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Between 2018 and 2019, the country saw foreign investment collapse from $745 million to $280 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe huge factors that scare away investors include toxic politics and policy inconsistency,\u201d says Ithiel Mavesere, an economics lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare. \u201cTo ensure confidence among the people, we need to come up with credible policies, be consistent in policy and have credible institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an analysis of Zimbabwe on its website, the U.S. International Trade Administration notes: \u201cForeign currency retention requirements have challenged exporters, particularly when this gap has grown to such extremes, and international firms have faced challenges repatriating profits.\u201d<\/p>\n

And during a virtual event in May, Chris Hunnicutt, senior economic officer at the U.S. Embassy in Zimbabwe, noted challenges that affect investment in the country include \u201cpolicy flip-flopping where things change unexpectedly.\u201d<\/p>\n

By increasing the export surrender, the government hoped to raise funds for the Foreign Exchange Auction Trading System, launched last year to bring stability, efficiency and transparency to foreign transactions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe huge factors that scare away investors include toxic politics and policy inconsistency,\u201d says Ithiel Mavesere, an economics lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe<\/p>\n

The Reserve Bank\u2019s governor and deputy governor didn\u2019t respond to interview requests.<\/p>\n

A higher export surrender bloats business costs and \u201calso encourages practices where people bank their money offshore to try and evade these policies,\u201d economist Prosper Chitambara says.<\/p>\n

Kudakwashe is one of those people. Kudakwashe, who asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of arrest, started a trucking business in December 2020 but skirts the new policy by slipping his foreign earnings into an offshore account.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realized that it was better to keep my money elsewhere, where I know I can withdraw it, as it is without a portion being converted into local currency,\u201d he says. \u201cIf such policies were not in place, I would have had foreign currency accounts locally. But such policies will hinder growth, especially for startups like me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Global Press Journal – TOBACCO grower Shava Manomano fumes as he sits on a bale of yellow-gold leaves, watching buyers move along an auction floor in Harare, Zimbabwe\u2019s capital. The buyers, wearing face masks, partially fill the cavernous, well-lit space. The aroma of tobacco bathes the room. Manomano sold his tobacco for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":46123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,35,15],"tags":[1493,2189,19],"class_list":["post-46124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"\nBusinesses Fight Rule That Cuts Profits - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Global Press Journal - TOBACCO grower Shava Manomano fumes as he sits on a bale of yellow-gold leaves, watching b ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Businesses Fight Rule That Cuts Profits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Global Press Journal - TOBACCO grower Shava Manomano fumes as he sits on a bale of yellow-gold leaves, watching b ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-03T17:51:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2021\/09\/img-61325a76b3750.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"555\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Businesses Fight Rule That Cuts Profits\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-03T17:51:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits\"},\"wordCount\":602,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2021\/09\/img-61325a76b3750.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zimbabwe\",\"Zimbabwe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits\",\"name\":\"Businesses Fight Rule That Cuts Profits - zimbabwe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2021\/09\/img-61325a76b3750.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-03T17:51:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Global Press Journal - TOBACCO grower Shava Manomano fumes as he sits on a bale of yellow-gold leaves, watching b ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2021\/09\/img-61325a76b3750.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2021\/09\/img-61325a76b3750.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":555,\"caption\":\"Businesses Fight Rule That Cuts Profits\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Businesses Fight Rule That Cuts Profits\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/\",\"name\":\"zimbabwe\",\"description\":\"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Businesses Fight Rule That Cuts Profits - zimbabwe","description":"Global Press Journal - TOBACCO grower Shava Manomano fumes as he sits on a bale of yellow-gold leaves, watching b ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Businesses Fight Rule That Cuts Profits","og_description":"Global Press Journal - TOBACCO grower Shava Manomano fumes as he sits on a bale of yellow-gold leaves, watching b ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits","og_site_name":"zimbabwe","article_published_time":"2021-09-03T17:51:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":555,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2021\/09\/img-61325a76b3750.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Businesses Fight Rule That Cuts Profits","datePublished":"2021-09-03T17:51:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits"},"wordCount":602,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2021\/09\/img-61325a76b3750.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Zimbabwe","Zimbabwe"],"articleSection":["all news","Economy","homepage-english","twitter"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits","name":"Businesses Fight Rule That Cuts Profits - zimbabwe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2021\/09\/img-61325a76b3750.jpg","datePublished":"2021-09-03T17:51:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Global Press Journal - TOBACCO grower Shava Manomano fumes as he sits on a bale of yellow-gold leaves, watching b ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2021\/09\/img-61325a76b3750.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2021\/09\/img-61325a76b3750.jpg","width":800,"height":555,"caption":"Businesses Fight Rule That Cuts Profits"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/businesses-fight-rule-that-cuts-profits#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Businesses Fight Rule That Cuts Profits"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/","name":"zimbabwe","description":"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}