Zimbabwe - Overseas Development Institute

While these successes deserve due r e c o g n i t i o n , i t i s equally
important to h i g h l i g h t some of the c o n s t r a i n t s impeding f u r t h e r
export expansion. C l e a r l y one major b a r r i e r to increased
overseas competitiveness i s c a p i t a l and machinery shortages which
were h i g h l i g h t e d i n a survey conducted f o r the UNIDO study i n
1985. These r e s u l t s show that whereas 90% of manufacturers
maintained that they had adequate plant to manufacture goods for
the domestic market, only 54% stated they had adequate plant to
export to South A f r i c a and only 30% f o r the overseas market
(UNIDO, 1986b:281-282)''8 .
2.6 Trends i n Value Added
A f i n a l i n d i c a t i o n of the strength of the manufacturing
sector can be obtained from examining trends i n the MVA to gross
output r a t i o and i n the constant p r i c e value added per employee.
In general, i f these r a t i o s r i s e over time t h i s i s u s u a l l y a sign
of i n c r e a s i n g i n d u s t r i a l strength; f o r Zimbabwe they are of
p a r t i c u l a r importance because, during both the UDI and post-
Independence period, the manufacturing sector has suffered from a
severe shortage of f o r e i g n exchange required for replacement and
expanded c a p i t a l investment"'.
Figure 11. Manufactured Value Added Per Employee at Fixed (GNI)
Prices, A l l Sectors.
1 -
0 — I 1—I—1 1—I—I 1—I 1—I—I 1—I—I 1—;—1 1—I 1 — I —
60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 B2 83
Time
pe/ic?d in Yeor3
• Usirvg GNI Deflator
Source: Census of Production and Digest of Statistics (various years) .