Zimbabwe loses $6bn tobacco revenue #zimbabwe

ZIMBABWE lost no less than $6 billion through the selling of
unprocessed tobacco to external markets last year alone, a
policy analyst Butler Tambo has revealed.
Tambo told a workshop organised by lobby group Bulawayo
Agenda in the country's second largest city titled "Ideas
Festival," on Thursday that the country could have realised
the same amount if its tobacco sold to Europe and Asia had
been processed into cigarettes.
The analyst said Zimbabwe's youths should be mentored in
a way that allows them to venture into value addition and
import substitution on which the Zimbabwe Agenda for
Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZimAsset)
blueprint could be anchored.
"For instance while a kilogramme of unprocessed tobacco
costs an average of $3,66 per kilogramme at the auction
floors, threshed tobacco costs around $7,30 per
kilogramme while cigarettes cost around $30,50 per
kilogramme," he said.
"In monetary terms, from the 166 million kilogrammes of
raw tobacco sold last year and exported to various countries
around the world at a cost of $608 million, Zimbabwe could
have realised as much as $6,08 billion from finished
cigarettes," Tambo said.
He said government needed to stop the idea of spoon-
feeding youths with loans that are never repaid.
"Youths have gotten loans but there is a growing culture in
Zimbabwe of treating loans like manna from heaven.
"They need to be empowered but cannot be troubled to pay
back, we need a culture of good economics and it begins
with the government itself," he said.
Zimbabwe's annual budget currently stands at $4 billon
including over a $1 billion deficit. Tambo's calculations
mean tobacco alone can ensure the country has with a
fiscal surplus.
The country which is endowed with rich mineral resources
among them diamonds and platinum has been exporting
these raw minerals to other countries.
Tambo provided another glimpse into the mining sector if
beneficiation is considered.
"Another example is that a rough diamond costs about $40
per carat, a cut and polished diamond value increases to $
400 per carat.
"The same stone fetches around $600 per carat when it
reaches the consumer. In addition, chrome ore costs around
$210 per tonne while high-carbon ferrochrome and other
alloys cost $870 per tonne.
"With Zimbabwe's annual chrome output at 150 000 tonnes
and revenues from export of raw chrome ore of $31,5 million
against estimated revenues from beneficiation of $130,5
million," he said.
Zimbabwe is reeling under a more than decade-long
economic and political crisis critics blame on President
Robert Mugabe. The crisis worsened after Mugabe stormed
to a controversial victory in elections held last July.
Tambo also argued that Zimbabwe needs to work on
reducing its import bill through curtailing the importation of
goods that can be produced locally including chicken
products.
"Imagine, what Bulawayo industries will be like if they had
gotten the injection of $400 million that we exported to other
countries and created jobs for other nations. We should
start exporting more as a country," he said.
Mugabe last year described Bulawayo, the country's former
industrial hub, as a "scrapyard".