PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s pronouncements that the economy is on a recovery path can be best described as delusional.
According to a number of indicators, the economy is on a downward spiral largely because of the government’s lack of clarity in its investment policies.
The economy is in the middle of a gripping liquidity crunch that is making doing business in Zimbabwe a real nightmare.
The worsening situation is characterised by deflation, massive job losses and company closures.
Unemployment rate, according to unofficial statistics, is now soaring above 90% with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union claiming that over 300 workers are retrenched every week.
The government last week announced that it could no longer guarantee pay days for civil servants because it is struggling to raise money to fund their salaries.
There are hosts of other problems that have come to the fore as a result of the collapsing economy and it is no longer possible to unmask it.
However, Mugabe on Sunday claimed there was a turnaround anchored on the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZimAsset) and Integrated Results-Based Management system.
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ZimAsset is the blueprint that the Zanu PF government has been touting as the panacea for the economic problems that have dogged Zimbabweans for the past decade with no signs of abating.
A year after the blueprint was unveiled, the government has nothing to show for its success with all the projects identified under ZimAsset still unfunded.
The government has been busy courting China to fund the blueprint and the negotiations have not yielded anything to write home about.
China, it has to be understood, would not just dole out money to Zimbabwe without seeking guarantees that are standard to any investor.
If Mugabe desires an economic turnaround he has to be seen embracing investors whether from the West or the East.
Rhetoric against white Zimbabweans would alarm not just investors from the West, but also threaten the so-called Look East policy.
It’s time Mugabe and the government started walking the talk on the economy and we need to hear less about this imagined economic recovery.
