By Hendricks Chizhanje

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s embattled business leaders have rejected charges by President Robert Mugabe of hiking prices of basic commodities to undermine his government and instead blamed a depreciating local dollar and rising input costs for the latest round of price hikes. 

The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) and the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC), considered the voices of business in the country, said the slide of the Zimbabwe dollar on the informal foreign currency market and the move by state firms to hike levies and tariffs for key requirements such as electricity had pushed up production costs and resultantly prices. 

In a joint statement shown to ZimOnline but to be published later this week the CZI and ZNCC said: “These increases were triggered by an unprecedented increase in the price of inputs apparently influenced by the informal exchange rate in the first three weeks of March and the justifiable ongoing adjustment to parastatal prices.” 

Manufacturers and retailers have over the past few months hiked prices of nearly every commodity, pushing the cost of living beyond the reach of most Zimbabweans, a worrying development for Mugabe’s government that squares up against a resurgent opposition in key presidential and parliamentary elections next year. 

Addressing supporters during Zimbabwe’s 27th independence anniversary last week, Mugabe accused business of working with the opposition and his Western enemies and said firms were hiking prices unjustifiably to incite hatred against his government ahead of elections. 

Zimbabwe is reeling under social, political and economic crises and is battling four-digit inflation, unemployment of over 80 percent as well as shortages of food, foreign currency and essential raw materials to sustain its industry. 

Critics say Mugabe’s controversial policies, such as his seizures of land from white commercial farmers to give to blacks have worsened the crisis, knocking the agriculture sector, which is the mainstay of the economy. 

Economic hardships have been felt in urban areas, which have become the hotbed of opposition politics as anger grows against the government. 

Mugabe, in power since Zimbabwe’s 1980 independence from Britain, however denies ruining the economy and instead blames his country’s troubles on sabotage by his Western enemies. - ZimOnline