Harare-Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor, Dr John Mangudya has encouraged local businesses to take advantage of the current business positive environment to drive growth and improve the economy. Speaking at the African Development Bank (AFDB) Zimbabwe Private Sector development round-table on Wednesday, Dr Mangudya called upon local businesses to seize the opportunities brought by the current business environment. “Zimbabwe open for business mantra is not only for foreign businesses but also for local businesses,” he said. Dr Mangudya called upon local businesses to strive towards improving production which is key to overcoming the fiscal deficit the country is facing. “When we say that Zimbabwe is open for business it also means that Zimbabweans need to expand their businesses. You need to recapitalise, to modernise and you need to buy those small spares and equipment consumables to make sure that your businesses remain competitive. So, when you open for business it means that you open for competition. “How do you make sure that you are open for competition? By ensuring that you increase on capital formation and this is exactly what we are doing,” he said Dr Mangudya encouraged businesses to push more and to make sure that the private sector is continuously being fed through the medium-term capital injections to avoid a “pseudo growth whereby we grow today and tomorrow we go down because stable growth requires enough resources to make sure it is sustainable. Dr Mangudya said that the business outlook in Zimbabwe looks very positive right now and noted that the volume of sales have gone up, quantity of money in circulation is high than it was 8 or 10 years ago, the consumer confidence is also high which can be measured by the quantity of fuel the economy is using and also the policies are favourable for business. As part of efforts to revive the local industry, government has allowed for duty free on imports of citical raw materials and review of the indigenisation policy has also been identified as key to to increase foreign investment. He also identified opportunities in the sub-sector like food processing and production, drink and beverages for which he says aggregate demand has gone up He said that many opportunities are being created both from the policy front and the business front which has improved the ease of doing business in the country both for foreign and local businesses. “The government’s economic growth model is very clear that we are in an uplifting stage and is very clear that business in this country is going to do more than it is now.” Dr Mangudya also welcomed the Private Sector Development (PSD) drive by ADB as critical towards economic growth. “The only way to improve fiscal deficit is to improve production and the role of the private sector as key instrument for economic growth,” he said. “We need to improve the footprints of the private sector in the economy,” said Dr Mangudya. Dr Mangudya said the Industrialisation of Africa strategy presented by AFD provides a good opportunity for Zimbabwe to boost the economy.