Japanese ambassador to Zimbabwe,His Excellency Mr Toshiyuki Iwado, told Sunday Mail Chief Reporter, Kuda Bwititi during an interview that Zimbabwe needs to reform in a number of ways so as to attract Foreign Direct Investment.
Below are excerpts from the interview.
Bwititi: What is your assessment of the reforms being undertaken by President Mnangagwa’s administration? Have they not attracted Japanese investors?
Iwado: Zimbabwe has made a very bold decision in terms of the reforms being implementing. They are trying to tackle their fiscal and monetary policies. These two issues are fundamental in stabilising the macro-economic situation.
But I always talk to some people in Government and those outside of Government. The decision to change the currency to a local currency is great, that is an independent decision of the Government. But the question is, have you really operationalised the interbank system?
Have they really managed the parallel market? There is also the question of corruption. Some of these areas need to be addressed. The Japanese companies are concerned by these things that I have raised.
The companies are worried about availability of foreign currency. There is no repatriation of foreign currency in this country, even though they are free to bring it.
I am raising these issues because Japanese companies that seek to invest in Zimbabwe are private companies. They are not government, so they need all the assurances first before they can invest.