By Itai Zimunya
The National Competitiveness Commission (NCC), a statutory body whose mandate is to enhance Zimbabwe’s global competitiveness issued an important analysis (here) in March 2025.
The report notes that Zimbabwe has multiple regulatory frameworks governing business operations. These regulations overlap leading to inefficiencies, increased compliance costs, and bureaucratic delays. These overlapping regulations and multiplicity of regulators are increasingly becoming a huge burden for Zimbabwean businesses. This is in line with The Eastern Caucuses finding in the 2024 Zimbabwe Economic Freedom Audit (ZEFA). This analysis provides a snapshot of overlapping regulations impacting business performance.
We call upon the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (ZIDA), the relevant Ministries including the inter-ministerial ease of doing business task force to urgently convene and free Zimbabwe’s business environment.
There is no doubt that with these reforms, Zimbabwe will become one of the most economically free and prosperous nations on earth. This was shared by the Fraser Institute’s Fred McMahon at the launch of the Zimbabwe Economic Freedom Audit in Harare, in October 2024.
TECA commends the NCC for this clear position. The next step is action in actually reforming the policies, laws and taxes so that Zimbabwe becomes competitive and increases the welfare of its people and the continent through the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA).