THE Reserve Bank governor, Dr Gideon Gono says that Zimbabwe’s economy could be turned around in the next few years if the country does not continue to lose revenue from illegal dealing in the mining industry. He said that Zimbabwe is currently losing US$1.2 billion a month to illegal diamond dealing.
Dr Gono made this shocking revelation at the quarterly outstanding law officers’ award ceremony held in the capital, Harare.
He said over 500 syndicates operate in the eastern region of Manicaland where diamonds were discovered in the last four years.
According to Gono, the amount currently being lost via the illegal syndicates is more than enough to turnaround Zimbabwe’s economy and help deal with some of the economic challenges facing the country.
"A reliable estimate shows that US$1.2 billion per month would be realized from diamond sales in the country, enough to solve the economic challenges the country is currently facing,” said the Reserve Bank governor.
"We have investors who are able to mine and bring US$1.2 billion every month while we only need US$100 million a month for all our difficulties to go,” he added.
Dr Gono also indicated that the problem of illegal dealing is also witnessed in the gold mining sector.
According to the Reserve Bank governor Zimbabwe used to produce 27 tonnes of gold yearly, but it has now gone down to less than five tonnes – a fivefold contraction.
Dr Gono said law enforcement officers should arrest these illegal dealers and send a clear message to would-be illegal traders in the county and abroad.
In the past two months, diamond smugglers from Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Mali, Congo, Senegal, Angola, Zambia and the Central Africa Republic were arrested in Manicaland and deported by immigration authorities.
Many foreigners have been frequenting the diamond rich area undetected and it is believed that diamonds worth millions of dollars may have been smuggled out of the country in the past few months.
Diamond panning activity is rampant in the Chiadzwa area of the province and many foreigners frequent this area in search of the precious stone to smuggle out of the country.
Analysts believe Zimbabwe has enough mineral deposits to turnaround the economy if the production and marketing is properly managed. The country boasts gold, platinum and chrome as the principal endowments. The country’s gold reserves are among the largest in the African region, while it hosts the second-largest platinum reserves in the world.
Diamond mining started only four years ago with the discovery of kimberlites in the Manicaland region, but already the industry is fast becoming the major foreign currency earner. With an estimated US$1.2 billion being lost to smuggling every month, the country stands to benefit from a well-managed diamond production industry.
The mining industry earns Zimbabwe over 40% of its total export revenues. Conservative industry estimates say the industry could account for over 60% of export revenue in the next ten years.
Zimbabwe, however, has not been able to derive the full benefits of its myriad mineral resource base. Rather than expanding, the industry is forecast to register an average annual contraction of 1.5% during the 2008-2012 period.
Mhofeti • pasizw@yahoo.co.uk Subject: Gono on turning economy around Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:18:28 • JM I didn't mean to question your intergrity as an honest citizen doing the best that can be done under the circumstances to fend for your family. I just thought you were being economical with the truth when you chose to define the parallel market (black) as organised and controlled by the governement. Personally I believe the black market comes in to fill the vacuum created by lack of provision of services and/or goods via the formal sector in our case caused by the crippling. sanctions. No offense intended really.
JM • n/a Subject: MHOFETI Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:08:42 • Mhofeti you are also dreaming because here in Zim if you are not involved in the black market you will get nowhere in life for everything involves black market economy and I mean everything from fuel,food money etc................so understand the situation before calling me a hypocrite...........CRAZY ZIMBABWE
Mhofeti • pasizw@yahoo.co.uk Subject: Gono on turning economy around Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:43:00 • 1. JM can I, on your admission, remind you that you are part of the black market problem that you hypocritically claim that it's all organised and controlled by the government. 2. Castor the last sentence of your comment is a shameful and cheap piece of british propaganda meant for the uninformed rural folk of Zimbabwe (may God help us). Very few Zimbabweans if any are that naive to believe your so called targeted sanctions are hurting any politicians let alone Zanu PF. JM will also confirm to you that all ministers and service chiefs are all not just rich but very and how do you reconcile that with your theory of tightly targeted sanctions towards them? 3. Melusi your comments will be taken seriously once we start using suspicion and fact interchangeably. I thought the point Gono was making is that if there was legal dealing in the diamond mining industry Zimbabwe stood to gain enough forex to turn around our economic woes.
Castor • ajc@37.com Subject: Intelligence - or the lack of it... Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:57:58 • n/a:n/a said>Yours is an MDC mind that is unsophisticated and has been fed propaganda by British intelligence services to be able to think like that.
Nope. You are being fed propaganda by ZPF and regurgitating it like a parrot. It is you that has been fed nonsense and it is you that has the unsophisticated mind. The british have no interest other than the well being of ordinary Zimbabweans, and they have no weapon other than tightly targeted sanctions agains the ruling elite - your King and his Lords - your ZPF masters.
JM • n/a Subject: CRAZY Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:32:52 • n/a you are living in a fairy world.......everything involving money in Zim is organised and controlled by the government including the black market and the mining industries I make my living in the blak market here in Zim so I have first hand information....why does everything have to involve British intelligence don't fool yourself as this is now Zanu propaganda ......why do you think all government ministers and sevice chiefs are all very very rich not because of their salaries .....START LIVING IN THE REAL WORLD AND STOP DREAMING MY FRIEND NOT EVERYTHING IS WHITE vs BLACK AND GOOD vs EVIL......
melusi • melunkomo@yahoo.com Subject: n/a Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:44:08 • Could not agree with you more JM..It is a documented fact that the likes of Joyce and husband Solomon have all been linked to the scandal of smuggling diamonds out of the country...Tell me who does not know that the very Gono is the man behind the thriving black market in Zimbabwe...
n/a • n/a Subject: diamond Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:26:44 • joyyce mujuru is the chief calprit she is the one with all these syndicates working on stealing the gold to feed their own families while the rest of suffer.
n/a • n/a Subject: n/a Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:02:42 • JM it shows how simple minded you are to think that authorities are the ones who are externalising the diamonds and then talk about it. Yours is an MDC mind that is unsophisticated and has been fed propaganda by British intelligence services to be able to think like that.
JM • n/a Subject: CRAZY Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:48:32 • the people who are stealing these diamonds and gold deposits are the very people who are in charge of Zimbabwe so how are the law enforcment agencies supposed to arrest themselves and their masters........CRAZY ZIMBABWE
SUBMITYOUROPINION
Please make sure you fill in all sections for your post to be submitted. Use n/a if not submitting details. The submission code below is case-sensitive. Also make sure you get confirmation that your comment has been submitted.
