The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI)’s latest report states that the country’s industrial sector continues to be plagued by the same problems that have hindered operations for years.
According to the report, the most frequently cited issues affecting business operations are competition from the informal sector and imports, liquidity challenges, power outages, and cost of doing business.
“These have remained the key challenges affecting businesses in Zimbabwe for a long time. These issues should continue to remain policy advocacy priority areas, as ongoing efforts have not been able to eliminate them,” CZI said in the report.
The survey also identified several critical barriers that faced firms as they attempted to export during the first nine months of 2025.
“The most frequently cited challenge was price uncompetitiveness (23%), primarily driven by high production costs.
“Firms attributed this to a combination of factors, including expensive electricity, costly raw materials, outdated machinery, and rising labour costs, all of which undermine export price competitiveness in regional and global markets,” CZI said.
“The second major constraint was cumbersome and costly export permits (19%), which continue to discourage firms from expanding into external markets. Delays at border posts (14%) were also a key concern, with respondents pointing to inefficiencies and bureaucratic bottlenecks that prolong clearance times and escalate logistics costs.”
The report noted that although turnover generally increased, this was not directly proportional to profitability.
“While most firms registered increases in turnover driven by a stable macroeconomic environment, with large firms registering more positive changes, their profitability is mixed, with almost an equal proportion enjoying either an increase or a decrease in profitability.
“There are cost drivers which are eating up margins, hence policy priorities going forward should concentrate more on enhancing competitiveness, hence the ongoing reforms on cost of regulations are quite commendable,” CZI said.
