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1. By Tawanda Musarurwa
HARARE – The new National
Information and Commu-
nications Technology (ICT)
policy draft is currently being
reviewed by Cabinet, pend-
ing approval, ICT, Postal and
Courier Services Minister
Supa Mandiwanzira has said.
Zimbabwe is presently using
the National ICT Policy of
2005, which has long been
overrun by the rapid changes
in the ICT space.
Minister Mandiwanzira said
the promulgation of the
new National ICT policy will
also provide impetus for the
establishment of sub-sector
policies and pieces of legis-
lation.
“The document (ICT Policy)
is now past the working
parties and now before the
committee of Ministers of
Cabinet,” he said.
“Other sub-sector policies
and legislations that are
awaiting approval of the
policy framework are already
at an advanced stage of
approval. And these include
News Update as @ 1530 hours, Tuesday 15 March 2016
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New ICT policy nears promulgation
Minister Mandiwanzira

2. the National Cyber-security
Policy and cyber-security
related bill, cyber-crime and
cyber-security, e-transac-
tions and e-commerce
“These policies and pieces
of legislation which can only
come into existence after
the broader ICT Policy has
been approved, are critical
because we have seen the
development in the ICT sec-
tor and social media space
in this country where the
abuse of social media has
extended.”
The draft ICT policy focuses
on areas that the Govern-
ment considers priorities of
the local technology space
is going to contribute in a
big way to national economic
growth going forward.
These include ICT infrastruc-
ture (sharing), e-govern-
ment, content, ICT sector
growth, local ICT industry
development and empower-
ment, affordable broadband,
ICT research and cyber
security.
Analysts say the country’s
ICT sector has the poten-
tial to drive the economy
forward, but to the extent
that relevant strategies and
measures are put in place.
They say ICT could improve
revenue, enhance com-
petitiveness, and assist in
the economic and societal
modernisation. It can further
facilitate innovation, con-
necting people and communi-
ties, and improving stand-
ards of living and new trade
opportunities.●
2 news

3. BH243

4. BH244

5. By Funny HUdzerema
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s trade
deficit at the end of last
year stood at $3,3 billion,
Zimtrade statistics show.
The Statics show that in
2015 Zimbabwe exported
goods worth $3 billion and
imported goods worth $6,3
billion and resulting in the
$3,3 billion trade deficit.
An official from ZimTrade
said the worsening of the
trade deficit is due to the
cumbersome process that
local exporters have to con-
tend with, such as numerous
documents which has forced
many companies to stop
exporting.
ZimTrade chief executive Ms
Sithembile Pilime said Zim-
babwe has got the capacity
to balance its trade if export
policies are reviewed.
“Zimbabwe has got the
potential to balance its
export performance if
authorities reduce the num-
ber of export regulations and
levies which are currently
limiting different companies
exporting levels.
“Currently trade deficit is at
$3,3 billion due to a general
decline in exports for all
sectors except clothing and
beverages during year 2015,”
she said.
‘She was speaking during the
Stanbic Bank and ZimTrade
export awareness seminar
aimed at educating exporters
how to export their prod-
ucts and the best markets to
export to.
“We have too many export
permits, export licenses and
import permits that export
companies need to have so
at the end of the day most of
the time is spent on obtain-
ing the documents than on
real business.
“Right now our companies
are exporting all over the
world but the problem is
that the number of exporters
has shrunk and the value of
exports has declined,” she
added.
She added that the country
is producing quality products
which are of high demand on
the market and there is only
need to revisit our exporting
policies.
ZimTrade sourced markets
for local products in Mozam-
bique, Malawi and Swaziland
and is also targeting the Tan-
zania and DRC markets.
“This year we will do actual
marketing surveys in DRC
and Tanzania to see what our
local companies can sup-
ply to those markets,” she
said.●
5 news
2015 trade deficit at $3,3bn

6. BH246

7. BH247

8. HARARE– Government will
likely recover only $2 mil-
lion out of $18 million of its
money which was locked up
in the now liquidated Inter-
fin Bank, an official has said.
The Reserve Bank of Zim-
babwe placed Interfin under
curatorship in June 2012
after it was found to be in an
unsound financial position.
Strenuous efforts to revive
the bank failed, resulting in
the central bank applying at
the High Court for its liquida-
tion last year, a request that
was granted.
The bank owed its creditors
over $150 million. Before its
closure, Interfin was one of
the financial institutions that
had been chosen by Govern-
ment to manage and loan out
funds to struggling com-
panies under the Zimbabwe
Economic and Trade Revival
Facility (Zetref), a facility
which was partially funded
by the African Export and
Import Bank. At least $20
million in Zetref funds was
deposited with the bank.
The Accountant General in
the Ministry of Finance and
Economic Development,
Dennis Muchemwa said
Interfin Bank liquidator, the
Deposit Protection Corpo-
ration, had assured Govern-
ment it would likely recover
around $2 million.
“We submitted claims with
the liquidator on June 4,
2015 after notification from
the liquidator,” Muchemwa
told the Parliamentary Port-
folio Committee on Public
Accounts. “There is antic-
ipation that we will receive
a small amount of plus or
minus $2 million out of the
$18 million.”
Quizzed why Government
had chosen to deposit funds
with a struggling financial
institution, Mr Muchemwa
said officials had not been
aware that the bank was in
the red.
“We would not have made
the investment if we were
aware that the bank was in
dire straits,” the Accountant
General said.
Interfin’s financial position
only came to the fore after
the ministry of finance’s
repeated efforts to withdraw
about $5 million in Zetref
funds failed to materialise.
It is at this point that the
Reserve Bank was asked to
look into the bank’s finan-
cials, which revealed that it
was teetering on the brink of
collapse. The bank was then
placed on “recuperative cura-
torship.”- New Ziana.●
8 news
Government recovers $2 million out of $18 million lost in bank

9. BH249

10. BH2410

11. 11 news
02 03
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BH24 Reporter
HARARE -South Afri-
can-headquartered cement
manufacturing giant says the
expansion project in Zimba-
bwe is now 55 percent com-
plete – along with projects in
the Democratic Republic of
Congo and Ethiopia.
PPC is constructing an
$80 million cement plant
in Harare, which will have
capacity to produce 680 000
tonnes annually.
In an operational update to
investors today, the cement
producer said its expansion
strategy was on track, while
sales at its recently commis-
sioned plant in Rwanda had
exceeded the 100 000 tonne
point.
“PPC’s expansion strategy
remains on track and sales
in the recently commissioned
plant in Rwanda have passed
the 100 000 ton mark. All
three remaining projects
in the DRC, Zimbabwe and
Ethiopia are over 55 percent
complete,” said the company.
In respect of operations for
the first five months of its
financial year, PPC Ltd noted
an increase in sales within
South Africa, although sales
in its international division
dipped.
“Group cement volumes are
down 1 percent for the first
five months of the financial
year. Sales in the SA cement
business rose 2 percent while
they declined in the interna-
tional businesses. Pressure
on selling prices has weighed
in most operating regions.”●
PPC Zim expansion project 55pc complete

12. BH2412

13. HARARE - The equities
market bucked yesterday’s
losses as the mainstream
industrial index rebounded
0.39 to close at 99.41 in
trading dominated by gain-
ers.
Giant insurer Old Mutual
added $0,0697 to trade
at $1,9697, while CBZ
advanced by $0,0050 to set-
tle at $0,1100.
Delta Beverages was up
$0,0025 to $0,5650, while
Padenga was $0,0002
stronger at $0,0620.
No counter traded in the
negative territory while
activity was limited to
eleven counters.
The mining index was up
0.08 to settle at 19.22
following a $0,0001 gain in
Bindura, Falgold, Hwange
and RioZim maintained
previous price levels at
$0,0050, $0,0300 and
$0,1040 respectively
- BH24 Reporter ●
ZSE13
Industrials gain

14. Movers CHANGE Today Price USc SHAKERS Change TODAY Price USc
CBZ 4.76 11.00
Old Mutual 3.66 196.97
Bindura 1.05 0.96
Delta 0.44 56.50
Padenga 0.33 6.02
Index Previous Today Move Change
Industrial 99.02 99.41 +0.39 points +0.39%
Mining 19.14 19.22 +0.08 points +0.42%
14 zse tables
ZSE
Indices
Stock Exchange
Previous
today

15. 15 DIARY OF EVENTS
The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.
POWER GENERATION STATS
Gen Station
15 March 2016
Energy
(Megawatts)
Hwange 404 MW
Kariba 285 MW
Harare 17 MW
Munyati 0 MW
Bulawayo 18 MW
Imports 0 - 500 MW
Total 1293 MW
•Thursday 24 March 2016 - Annual General Meeting of Willdale Limited; Place: Boardroom, Willdale Administration Block,
19.5km peg Lomagundi Road, Mount Hampden; Time: 1100 hours...
• Upcoming AGM - TSL, Head office, 28 Simon Mazorodze Road, Southerton, 16 March, 1200hrs
• Analyst briefing - Old Mutual Zimbabwe, Steward Room, Meikles Hotel, March 30, 1430hrs
THE BH24 DIARY

16. JOHANNESBURG - South
Africa's rand was softer
against the dollar on Tues-
day, in nervous trade ahead
of a Moody's rating review
visit and the central bank's
interest rate decision later in
the week.
Stocks opened lower, with
the JSE securities exchange's
Top-40 index dipping 0,7
percent.
At 0700 GMT the rand
was down 0,35 percent at
15,5950 to the dollar com-
pared with where it closed in
New York on Monday.
This followed a drop of
nearly 2 percent on Mon-
day, after Finance Minister
Pravin Gordhan said it would
be hard for South Africa to
get its credit rating back up,
should it be downgraded.
Moody's, Standard & Poor's
and Fitch have all warned
of possible downgrades
after President Jacob Zuma
changed finance minis-
ters twice within a week in
December, casting doubt on
Pretoria's commitment to
fiscal prudence.
Moody's will start a three-
day visit on Wednesday to
review South Africa's rating.
Tuesday's rand weakness
was also in line with softer
emerging markets after the
Bank of Japan held policy
steady as expected, boosting
the yen which is seen as a
safe haven currency.
"We expect international
developments ... to hold
more sway over the rand
than local developments
leading up to the MPC meet-
ing on Thursday," Standard
Bank said in a note, refer-
ring to the South African
Reserve Bank monetary
policy committee's own rate
announcement.
Economists polled by Reuters
say the MPC will wait until
May before hiking interest
rates again, despite ris-
ing inflation, as economic
growth stutters.
On the bond market, gov-
ernment debt prices edged
lower, and the yield for the
benchmark instrument due in
2026 was up 3 basis points
at 9,17 percent.
-Reuters●
regioNAL News16
Rand softer in line with EM currencies, stocks down
NAIROBI - The Interna-
tional Monetary Fund (IMF)
has approved two-year
standby credit facilities for
Kenya worth about $1,5 bil-
lion, it said late on Monday.
"The Kenyan authorities
have indicated that they
will continue to treat both
arrangements as precau-
tionary," the fund said on its
website. - Reuters●
IMF approves
24-month $1,5 bil-
lion standby facili-
ties for Kenya

17. SINGAPORE - Gold dropped
for a third consecutive ses-
sion on Tuesday to its lowest
in almost two weeks, with
investors focused on the
upcoming US Federal Reserve
policy meeting.
A rise in global equity mar-
kets over the past few days
has provided headwinds to
the gold market, which has
gained around 16 percent
this year.
The yen advanced against
the dollar and Asian stocks
languished near the day's
lows on Tuesday, after the
Bank of Japan held policy
steady as expected and
offered a bleaker view of the
country's economy in the
face of lingering anxiety over
slowing global growth.
Spot gold dropped 0,5 per-
cent to 1 228,56 an ounce by
0649 GMT, while US gold slid
1,3 percent to $1 229,10 an
ounce. Spot gold earlier in
the session fell to $1 225,70
an ounce, its lowest since
March 2.
"We are waiting for the
outcome of the Fed meeting
and data coming from the
United States is showing that
the state of the economy is
not bad," said Ronald Leung,
chief dealer at Lee Cheong
Gold Dealers Ltd.
"I think there are too many
long positions in the market.
They are taking some profit."
The Fed's two-day policy
meeting will start on Tuesday
and be watched for clues on
the future pace of US rate
increases.
Further US rate hikes could
lift the opportunity cost of
holding non-yielding bullion,
while boosting the dollar, in
which it is priced. The metal
has risen 16 percent this
year as expectations for fur-
ther near-term hikes faded.
The Bank of Japan kept
monetary policy steady but
offered a bleaker view on
the economy and warned of
waning inflation expecta-
tions, signalling that global
headwinds that may justify
deploying yet more stimulus
ahead.
The weak move in gold over
the last two sessions fol-
lowed Friday's brief bounce
to a 13-month high after
the European Central Bank
signalled an end to rate cuts
and the euro rose sharply
versus the dollar. Gold is
highly sensitive to monetary
policy and resulting currency
moves.
SPDR Gold Trust, the
world's largest gold-backed
exchange-traded fund, said
its holdings fell 1,08 percent
to 790,14 tonnes on Mon-
day from 798,77 tonnes on
Friday. In terms of ounces,
holdings fell to 25 403 927
ounces from 25 681 155.
Hedge funds and money
managers increased their
bullish COMEX gold position
to the highest in 13 months
in the week to March 8, the
eighth increase in the last
nine weeks, data showed on
Friday. - Reuters●
internatioNAL News17
Gold prices hit near 2-week low; focus on Fed meeting

18. The top of the oil market
may be closer than you
think. With Brent futures
having bounced back to $40
a barrel, the International
Energy Agency sees “light at
the end of the tunnel,” and
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is
spotting “green shoots.” Even
so, many analysts warn that,
like the failed rally last year,
this recovery will sputter
once prices go high enough
to keep US crude flowing.
“If prices keep going up, US
production from shale pro-
ducers is extremely respon-
sive,” Jamie Webster, vice
president of crude markets
at IHS Energy, said in a
Bloomberg Television inter-
view.
“Falling US production is the
key dynamic you need to get
supply to equal demand, and
that might not actually hap-
pen,” meaning prices could
fall again.
Brent futures have recov-
ered about 40 percent from
the 12-year low of $27,10
reached in January. With
output outside the Organisa-
tion of Petroleum Exporting
Countries set for its biggest
slump since 1992, “prices
might have bottomed out,”
according to the IEA. Yet
world crude benchmarks may
struggle to push past $50
a barrel this year as any
further price recovery only
delays the production cuts
needed to balance the mar-
ket, according to the median
of a Bloomberg survey of
nine analysts.
While US crude production
has retreated 5,5 percent
since last summer, the pro-
cess of depleting bloated
inventories is just getting
started, according to Gold-
man Sachs. The bank, which
foresaw oil’s plunge into the
$20s, predicts prices still
need to stay low enough to
starve producers of capital,
otherwise the output losses
necessary to remove the sup-
ply surplus won’t happen.
18 analysis18 analysis
If oil prices have hit bottom, the top may not be too far away

19. 19 analysis19 analysis
“An early rally in prices
before a deficit materializes
would prove self-defeating,”
Jeffrey Currie, head of com-
modities research at Gold-
man Sachs in New York, said
in a report on March 11.
The recovery “could throw
a lifeline to US producers”
that would “limit oil produc-
tion declines,” said Giovanni
Staunovo, an analyst at UBS
Group AG in Zurich.
Sustainable Price
The argument that $50 rep-
resents a ceiling for crude is
flawed, according to Sanford
C Bernstein & Co., which
sees prices returning to $70
in the next year. The industry
can’t stay profitable at cur-
rent price levels, having lost
$3 for each barrel produced
last year even as companies
squeezed costs, it said.
“The price of oil has to rise
to balance the market in
the medium run, and the
medium run might be sooner
than people think,” analysts
including Bob Brackett in
New York said in a report.
The rally could in any case
sputter out before it even
reaches the point that
revives US production,
according to UBS’s Staunovo.
Temporary price support from
pipeline disruptions in Iraq
will fade, while talks between
OPEC and non-members on
freezing supply while have
little impact, he said. Iran
still insists it won’t accept
any freeze until it restores
about 1 million barrels of
exports now that sanctions
have been lifted, Russian
Energy Minister Alexander
Novak said Monday following
a meeting in Tehran.
Similar Trend
This year’s price trend is
nonetheless similar to last
year, IHS’s Webster said.
West Texas Intermediate
crude climbed 40 percent
from late March 2015 as
US drilling plummeted, yet
stalled near $61 that summer
as the nation’s production
kept going. The US bench-
mark ultimately sank near
$40 again by August.
The resilience of US pro-
duction has taken OPEC by
surprise, Secretary-General
Abdalla El-Badri said last
month. Break-even prices
at North American shale
wells declined by 40 percent
between 2013 and 2015,
according to consultant Rys-
tad Energy AS. Crude output
remains near 9 million bar-
rels a day even as data from
Baker Hughes Inc. shows
drillers are using the fewest
rigs since 2009.
The reduction in costs makes
OPEC’s forecast for a 700
000 barrel-a-day contraction
in non-OPEC output this year
“more uncertain,” the group
said in its monthly oil-market
report Monday.
As a result of efficiency
gains, the “shale band” --
the price range that allows
output to be profitable -- has
fallen by about $10 since last
year to $45-$55 a barrel,
said Olivier Jakob, managing
director at consultant Petro-
matrix GmbH, who originated
the term. This year’s rally
has already buoyed US drill-
ers, who raised $10 billion of
extra funds on Wall Street.
There’s a cache of suspended
wells stretching from south
Texas to the Rocky Moun-
tains that can be completed
as soon as prices rise high
enough, according to ana-
lysts at Bloomberg Intel-
ligence. This reserve is
known as the “fracklog,” in
reference to the technique
of hydraulic fracturing, or
fracking, used by the shale
industry.
“There’s a cap that has to
do with when the high-cost
frackers will come back
in, at say $50,” Catherine
Mann, chief economist at the
Organisation of Economic
Cooperation and Develop-
ment, said in a Bloomberg
Television interview. “You’ve
got frackers out there whose
capacity to come into the
market is very, very flexible.
So there’s a range now.” -
Bloomberg●