Zimbabwe - Overseas Development Institute

Beyond these measures, however, perhaps the most s t r i k i n g
feature of the post-Independence period has been the c o n t i n u i t y
i n p o l i c y towards the manufacturing sector with the UDI period:
p r i c e and f o r e i g n exchange c o n t r o l s have remained f i r m l y i n place
and the same system has operated i n r e l a t i o n to new project and
replacement c a p i t a l investments r e q u i r i n g f o r e i g n exchange''. I t
i s i n t h i s general context that manufacturing expansion has
occurred and, more r e c e n t l y , that manufactured exports ( a l b e i t
from a low base-point) have begun to expand once more.
We look, f i n a l l y and b r i e f l y i n t h i s s e c t i o n , at the array
of f a c t o r s which manufacturers themselves consider to be the most
important i n c o n s t r a i n i n g expansion of the sector. Table 12
reproduces the r e s u l t s from recent sector-wide surveys over the
past few years. While the r e p l i e s r e v e a l the importance of
f o r e i g n exchange, domestic demand, p r i c e c o n t r o l s and s k i l l s
c o n s t r a i n t s i n r e s t r i c t i n g output expenditure and c a p i t a l
investment, the importance of each of these c o n s t r a i n t s have
d i f f e r e d markedly from one year to the next.
If there i s one lesson to be l e a r n t from these r e s u l t s - and
from the previous d i s c u s s i o n - i t i s that the manufacturing
sector i s h i g h l y complex, being i n f l u e n c e d by various f a c t o r s i n
d i f f e r e n t ways and i n d i f f e r e n t circumstances. C l e a r l y , then,
d e v i s i n g new p o l i c i e s f o r i t s sustained expansion i s going to be
no easy task.