The Government has warned businesses against engaging in unethical business practices which it says have brought suffering on citizens.
The warning was made by Industry and Commerce Minister Sekai Nzenza at the ongoing Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) Congress in Victoria Falls.
In a speech read on her behalf by chief director Douglas Runyowa, Nzenza said the Government will not fold its arms while companies engage in unethical business practices but will take corrective action that may hurt them. She said:
We can only achieve our goal if we remain united. As a government, we continue to urge businesses to practice good ethics in their trade, as failure to do so may call for countermeasures which in some cases may be unfavourable for business.
The current business environment is characterised by runaway inflation, liquidity challenges and exchange rate volatility, among many other problems which have negatively impacted industry’s capacity utilisation.
Business Times cited business leaders as saying they are currently living on the margins as a result of the deteriorating economic climate, which they have described as VUCA, an acronym for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.
This has forced companies to engage in illegal business practices such as forward pricing in anticipation of an upward exchange rate movement.
ZNCC president, Mike Kamungeremu said that ZNCC “has had to contend with adverse macroeconomic challenges such as hyperinflation, liquidity challenges and exchange rate volatility, among many other problems”, adding these have affected industry’s capacity utilisation.
Kamungeremu, however, urged businesses to be ethical. He said:
We represent businesses of all sizes and all sectors. When we go and lobby on businesses’ behalf, sometimes we are told there are some members of the business community engaging in unethical business practices.
We don’t support illegality. We support integrity, professionalism, honesty, responsibility and compliance with the law.
Zimbabwe’s annual inflation jumped to 175.8% in June from 86.5% in May, while the month-on-month inflation went up by a significant 58.8 percentage points in June to 74.5%, from 15.7% in May.
More: Pindula News
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