The National Bakers Association of Zimbabwe (NBAZ) has lobbied the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Industry and Commerce for better terms on the second phase of the Distressed Marginalized Areas Fund (DIMAF 2), specifically an interest rate lower than 10% and a loan term of at least 5 years. NBAZ president Mr. Givemore Mesoemvura said that many bakeries defaulted on loans from the initial DIMAF due to the high interest rates and short terms. He is requesting a 7% interest rate and 5 year term for bakeries accessing DIMAF 2 funds.

1. By Tawanda Musarurwa
HARARE – The National Bak-
ers Association of Zimbabwe
(NBAZ) says it has lobbied a
couple of Government min-
istries for a less strenuous
second phase of the Dis-
tressed Marginalised Areas
Fund (DIMAF).
The original DIMAF was set
up in 2011 as a revolving
facility to provide financial
assistance to struggling
companies outside Harare,
especially those in Bulawayo,
with Government and Old
Mutual, through its subsidi-
ary, CABS each contributing
$20 million to the fund.
And in April last year, Indus-
try and Commerce Deputy
News Update as @ 1530 hours, Tuesday 05 April 2016
Feedback: bh24admin@zimpapers.co.zwEmail: bh24feedback@zimpapers.co.zw
Bakeries fish for 7pc interest on DIMAF 2
Mr Givemore Mesoemvura

2. Minister Chiratidzo Mabuwa
told a business conference
during the Zimbabwe Inter-
national Trade the ministry
was finalising a framework
for the re-launch of the sec-
ond phase DIMAF (or DIMAF
2).
NBAZ president Mr Givemore
Mesoemvura said several
bakeries that accessed the
initial DIMAF defaulted on
the loans due to the punitive
terms of the loans.
He said the association had
engaged the Ministry of
Finance and Economic Devel-
opment and the Ministry of
Industry and Commerce to
negotiate for better terms,
specifically for the baking
industry.
“At the moment the funds
that have been coming
through DIMAF have come
with very punitive interest
rates that we are unable
to borrow that money and
repay.
“Hence you find that many
bakers from 2011 borrowed
that money and it turned
to non-performing loans
because of the punitive
nature of the interest rates
and also very short-term
“We have made an appeal to
the ministry of Finance and
the ministry of industry and
commerce that if there are
funds can the baking indus-
try access at less than 10
percent interest rate,” he
said.
Mr Mesoemvura said a 7 per-
cent interest rate would be
ideal for them, as well as a
longer tenure.
“Second, it should be around
five years and not 12 months
or else we cannot use those
funds because they are not
user-friendly to us. We would
be borrowing to lose our
assets because we won’t be
able to repay those monies,”
he said.
Old Mutual are on record
saying they would consider
relaxing some of the terms
and conditions of the fund.
The NBAZ president was
addressing the Parliamen-
tary Portfolio Committee on
Industry and Commerce this
morning.
Local bakeries, which have
an installed capacity to pro-
duce 1,8 million loaves daily,
are currently operating at
55 percent due to numerous
challenges – not least con-
strained access to affordable
capital.●
2 news
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5. HARARE –The Postal and Tel-
ecommunications Regulatory
Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz)
says today it can no longer
issue new mobile licenses due
to limited spectrum.
Zimbabwe has three mobile tel-
ecommunications firms namely
Econet, Net One and Telecel.
Although a fourth opera-
tor state owned TelOne was
granted a license, funding
constraints have stopped the
fixed operator from rolling out
mobile services. Potraz acting
director general Engineer Baxon
Sirewu said the three were ade-
quate to serve the market but
noted there was however room
for licensing of mobile virtual
network operators (MVNOs) to
come in and improve competi-
tion in the provision of mobile
services.
“We have to embrace conver-
gence and create a converged
environment where mobile
virtual networks operators can
operate,” Engineer Sirewu told
the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on Information
Communication Technologies.
“These are people who can
come into the market, provide
mobile services but do not run
any base stations but just cus-
tomer management equipment.
That is the framework we are
envisaging for the immediate
future to open up competition.”
Unlike in the past where
licenses were issued to operate
in one specific sector, Engi-
neer Sirewu said POTRAZ would
be issuing converged licenses
allowing licensees to offer a
multiplicity of services. He said
because of the limited spec-
trum, issuance of licenses to
new players would limit those
that are already in operation
from expanding their services.
“When it comes to those who
can deploy physical infra-
structure, we believe we are
constrained by spectrum and
we are almost at the edge,” he
said.
“If we add more and more
operators, we will constrain
the operators in terms of the
resources that will be made
available to them.” While
MVNOs do not own physical
network infrastructure, they
enter into agreements with
mobile network operators
where they acquire network
services at cheaper rates and
them set their own service
charges.
In most cases the MVNOs
acquire their own billing sys-
tems and employ their own
staff independent of the mobile
operator that would have
provided them with network
access. It is estimated that
there are nearly 1 000 MVNOs
operating in the world with
around 300 of them in the
United States.
In Africa, MVNOs are oper-
ational in countries such as
South Africa, Kenya and
Uganda.
- New Ziana ●
5 news
No room for new mobile licenses but virtual operators welcome

6. BH24 Reporter
HARARE–Local pharmaceu-
ticals manufacturer MedTech
Holdings Limited reported a
7 percent decline in revenue
for the year ended December
31, 2015 due to depressed
demand.
Revenue for the period
amounted to $13,2 million.
The pharmaceutical firm
posted a profit before tax of
$476 914 compared to loss
before tax in prior period of
$1,2 million.
“A major driver of the
improved performance was
the weaker rand and the
group has benefited from
translation of foreign denom-
inated balances into United
Stated dollars as evidenced
by the increase in net
exchange rate gains included
in the net finance income for
the year of $855 739,” said
the company in a statement
accompanying the results.
Added management: “Strin-
gent credit control man-
agement also contributed
significantly to the improved
performance while also
bringing about a decreased
but healthier and managea-
ble debtor book.”
The group’s FMCG Segment
– including MedTech Distribu-
tion and Smart Retail. Seg-
ment – saw its sales decline
5 percent.
But margins improved in both
MedTech Distribution and
Smart Retail due to exchange
rate gains in MedTech distri-
bution and a lower inventory
write-off in Smart Retail.
MedTech Distribution man-
aged to post a profit before
tax of $710 655 while Smart
Retail posted a loss before
tax of $340 027.
And operations at Smart
Retail are being wound down
and the business will be
closed in 2016. The Medical
Segment’s sales declined 15
percent mainly due the fact
that the business is under-
capitalised and has suffered
slow debtor repayments.
The medical segment posted
a loss before tax, and the
board has made a decision to
close the business should the
transaction not be concluded
in 2016. The manufacturing
segment‘s revenue for the
year decreased by 18 percent
due to depressed economic
environment, increased
competition from the infor-
mal sector and stock returns,
said the company.
Associate company, MedTech
Food & Beverages (Pvt) Lim-
ited has recorded a growth in
revenue of 27 percent, with
management expecting prof-
itability in the coming year.
The board did not declare a
dividend for the period.●
6 news
Medtech revenue slides 7pc

7. By Funny Hudzerema
HARARE -The total value of
transactions processed through
the National Payment System
increased to $959,04 million
for the week ended March 24
compared to $922,33 million in
the prior week.
The increase was largely driven
by an increase in transactions
processed through Mobile and
Real Time Gross Settlement
systems.
According to the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Weekly
Economic Report, mobile based
transactions Mobile transactions
accounted for 8,81 percent of
the total value of NPS trans-
actions; Automated Teller
Machines 5,56 percent; Point of
Sale 4,23 percent and cheque
transactions, 0,22 percent for
the total RTG.
The RTGS system recorded a 5
percent increase in the period
under review at $778,61 million
from $742,17 million in the
previous period.
The contribution of RTGS
payments to the total value of
transactions processed through
the NPS increased by 5 per-
centage points to 81,19 percent
during the week under review.
Automated Teller Machines
recorded an 18 percent increase
in transactions by 8 percent
from $49,32 million to $53,34
million in the review period.
Payments by cheque went down
4, 23 percent to $2,07 million
from $2,48 million in the previ-
ous week.
Average deposit rates for sav-
ings and deposits of 1 month
and 3 month-tenors closed the
week ending March 24, 2016 at
3,03 percent, 6,57 percent, and
6,93 percent, respectively.
The weighted commercial bank
lending rates for individuals
and corporate clients closed
the week under review at
11,43 percent and 7,16 percent
respectively.●
7 news
Electronic payment systems on the rise

8. HARARE -The mainstream
industrial index continued to
slide, losing a further 0.41
to close at 97.31.
Hippo led the losers, declin-
ing $0,0499 to $0,2010,
while Dairibord lost $0,0081
to trade at $0,0519 and
crocodile skin manufacturer
Padenga went down by a
marginal $0,0001 to close
at $0,0700.
On the upside, the gainers
included giant insurer Old
Mutual which rose by 0,0045
to trade at $2,2045, while
FBCH added $0,0010 to
$0,0614 and OK Zim bumped
$0,0005 to close at $0,0372.
Meikles was marginally up
by $0,0002 to $0,0710 while
beverages giant Delta inched
up $0,0001 to $0,5651.
The mining index rebounded
0.16 to settle at 19.69 fol-
lowing a $0,0002 gain in
nickel producer Bindura to
close at $0,0102.
Falgold, Hwange and RioZim
maintained previous price
levels at $0,0050, $0,0300
and $0,1040 respectively
.- BH24 Reporter ●
ZSE8
Equities market drop again
02 03
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9. Movers CHANGE Today Price USc SHAKERS Change TODAY Price USc
BNC 2.00 1.02 Hippo -19.88 20.10
FBC 1.65 6.14 Dairibord -13.50 5.19
OK Zim 1.36 3.72 Padenga -0.14 7.00
Meikles 0.28 7.10
Old Mutual 0.20 220.45
Delta 0.01 56.51
Index Previous Today Move Change
Industrial 97.72 97.31 -0.41 points -0.42%
Mining 19.53 19.69 +0.16 points +0.82%
9 zse tables
ZSE
Indices
Stock Exchange
Previous
today

10. 10 DIARY OF EVENTS
The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.
POWER GENERATION STATS
Gen Station
05 April 2016
Energy
(Megawatts)
Hwange 517 MW
Kariba 458 MW
Harare 30 MW
Munyati 09 MW
Bulawayo 21 MW
Imports 0 - 400 MW
Total 1331 MW
Upcoming AGM
• Falgold, KPMG Building, Corner 14th Avenue/Josiah Tongogara Street, Bulawayo,13 April, 1000hrs
THE BH24 DIARY

11. JOHANNESBURG - South
Africa's rand weakened today
as President Jacob Zuma
faced a vote in parliament to
remove him from office for
failing to uphold the consti-
tution, and a warning by the
central bank that the risk of
a credit ratings downgrade
had increased.
Zuma has the backing of the
African National Congress
(ANC), which he secured on
Friday after apologising for
his failure to repay some
of the $16 million spent on
his private Nkandla home
because it was based a bad
legal advice.
The motion to remove Zuma
is likely to fail in the assem-
bly where the ruling party
enjoys a comfortable major-
ity, with 62 percent of the
400-seat assembly.
The rand also lost ground
after the South Africa
Reserve Bank (SARB) said
late on Monday that a reduc-
tion in the sovereign credit
rating of Africa's most indus-
trialised economy would hit
the currency hard and push
short-term interest rates up
by about 80 basis points,
while longer-term bond
yields would probably rise by
around 104 basis points.
At 0704 GMT, the rand traded
at 14,9075 per dollar, 0,73
percent weaker from Mon-
day's New York close.
"The SARB's detailed analy-
sis of the impact of a rating
downgrade to sub-investment
grade is getting some atten-
tion," Rand Merchant Bank
analyst John Cairns said.
"But note that most of this
is arguably already in the
price: we know our offshore
yields are already trading
at levels consistent with
junk. We cannot measure
how much of a downgrade
is priced into the rand - our
guess is most but not all."
Standard & Poor's and Fitch
rate South Africa's debt just
one notch above junk status
as it grapples with depressed
commodity prices, political
upheavals and an econ-
omy that is barely growing.
Moody's has it one notch
higher, but on review for a
downgrade.
"Today's vote to impeach
President Jacob Zuma will
almost certainly fail. But
efforts to oust the president
will continue, potentially
distracting political attention
from South Africa's dire eco-
nomic situation," said Capital
Economics in a note.
In fixed income, the yield for
the benchmark instrument
due in 2026 added 11 basis
points to 9,255 percent
- Reuters●
regioNAL News11
Rand weakens on political risk, credit downgrade fears

12. Asian shares and other riskier
assets skidded on Tuesday,
pressured by slumping crude
oil prices and mixed messages
from Federal Reserve policy-
makers on the outlook for US
interest rate rises.
Oil prices continued to drop
after shedding more than 2
percent overnight, as inves-
tors doubted that oil producing
countries would freeze output
to address a global glut.
Brent lost 0,4 percent to
$37,54 a barrel after losing 2,5
percent on Monday. US crude
lost nearly 3 percent overnight,
and on Tuesday was down
about 0,5 percent at $35,53.
European shares are seen
falling, with spread-betters
expecting Germany's DAX to
fall as much as 1 percent and
Britain's FTSE 0,5 percent.
MSCI's broadest index of
Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan was down 1.3 percent.
Japan's Nikkei stock index
dropped 2.4 percent to an
eight-week closing low, as
the perceived safe-haven yen
rallied.
"Investors are concerned that
Japanese companies are losing
their 'weak-yen appeal'," said
Kazuhiro Takahashi, equity
strategist at Daiwa Securities.
"Many people are thinking it
would be difficult for export-
ers to forecast on-year gains
in their earnings for this fiscal
year."
Commodity-related and indus-
trial shares helped drag down
US stock indexes overnight,
and US economic data sug-
gested that economic growth
remained sluggish in the first
quarter.
New orders for manufactured
goods dropped in February, as
they have in 14 of the past 19
months, while business spend-
ing on capital goods was much
weaker than initially believed.
That gave investors no reason
to believe the US Federal
Reserve would raise interest
rates anytime soon, in line with
the cautious tone Fed chair
Janet Yellen sounded last week
that contrasted with more
hawkish remarks from other
Fed policymakers.
Boston Federal Reserve Pres-
ident Eric Rosengren was the
latest to fly into the hawkish
zone on Monday, calling it
"surprising" that futures mar-
kets currently price in just one
or even no rate hikes this year,
which he said could prove "too
pessimistic."
"Rosengren is usually on the
dovish side of the spectrum,
highlighting how out of line Fed
chair Yellen sounded last week
compared to her colleagues,"
Sean Callow, senior currency
strategist at Westpac, said in
a note.
Minneapolis Fed President Neel
Kashkari said on Monday he is
"comfortable" with the current
stance of U.S. monetary policy,
and expects "moderate" eco-
nomic growth ahead.
By contrast, Bank of Japan
Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on
Tuesday stressed his readiness
to expand monetary policy fur-
ther, saying that market moves
would be among key factors
the central bank will look at in
deciding when and how it will
next expand stimulus. But his
comments did little to stem the
yen's ascent.
The dollar shed about 0,5
percent to 110,84 yen. A slide
below 110,67 yen would take
the currency to its lowest
since October 2014. The euro
gave up about 0,4 percent to
126,33 yen. Against the dollar,
the euro stood little changed
at $1,1380, within sight of
Thursday's 5-1/2 month peak
of $1,1438.
The Australian dollar stood flat
at $0,7611, after the Reserve
Bank of Australia held interest
rates steady, citing evidence
of continued growth at home
despite an unhelpful rise in the
local dollar. On the other hand,
the Reserve Bank of India
cut its main interest rate by
0,25 percent to 6,5 percent as
expected, its first rate reduc-
tion since September.
The reaction in local markets
has been so far limited, with
the Indian rupee little changed
at 66,175 per dollar to the dol-
lar, just below a three-month
high of 66,07 hit earlier on
Tuesday.
The benchmark BSE share
index were down 0,5 percent
.-AFP●
internatioNAL News12
Asian shares slide; frazzled by Fed, falling oil prices

13. By David Kocieniewski
The Panama Papers, a huge
trove of documents that
reveal how a Central Amer-
ican law firm allegedly set
up shell companies to help
heads of state and interna-
tional criminals conceal their
riches, has already prod-
ded regulators into action,
rattled sitting politicians and
spurred international calls
for banking transparency.
Here’s a look at what they
are and where the revela-
tions may lead.
What’s in the documents?
The 11,5 million documents
-- which take up 2,6 ter-
abytes of space on a hard
drive, more than the cache
of State Department cables
uncovered by WikiLeaks in
2010 -- contain 40 years of
records from Mossack Fon-
seca, a niche law firm that
represents wealthy business
clients and has 40 offices
around the globe, according
to the International Consor-
tium of Investigative Journal-
ists, which led reporting on
the leaked documents.
ICIJ, a Washington-based
non-profit organisation that
co-ordinates cross-border
reporting projects, published
a dozen stories about the
records over the weekend
and says more are on the
way. It says the documents
reveal that the law firm set
up more than 300,000 shell
companies, many in tax
havens, to help clients con-
ceal their assets.
Many of the shell companies
were created for legitimate
purposes. But the ICIJ said
that thousands of them
appear to have been used to
dodge taxes, allow officials
of corrupt governments to
conceal vast wealth off-
shore or enable high-net-
worth clients to hide assets
from business partners and
ex-spouses.
Whom do they implicate?
The ICIJ said the records
show that at least 143
government officials from
around the world had shell
companies, including Icelan-
dic Prime Minister Sigmundur
David Gunnlaugsson, Ukrain-
ian President Petro Poro-
shenko and Pakistani Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Some of Russian President
Vladimir Putin’s closest
friends and associates used
the shell companies to move
more than $2 billion from
Russian banks to offshore
accounts. (Putin is not
named in any of the docu-
ments, the ICIJ said. The
Kremlin rejected the investi-
gation’s findings.)
Beyond the individuals
named, some of the world’s
most powerful banks, includ-
ing HSBC Holdings Plc, UBS
Group AG and Credit Suisse
Group AG, were also identi-
fied as using Mossack Fon-
seca to help clients render
their assets untraceable. The
banks, in comments, denied
any wrongdoing.
The ICIJ said the documents
also show more corruption
within the scandal-plagued
international soccer federa-
tion FIFA.
What’s a shell company?
A shell company is an entity
without active business
that exists as a vehicle for
another company’s opera-
tions. While companies that
shield owners’ identities can
be used legally, they can also
be tools for hiding assets,
laundering funds or evading
taxes. The US, among other
countries, requires banks
doing business in the country
to perform certain levels of
due diligence on their clients
to understand who the bene-
ficial owners of such struc-
tures may be.
Where did the leak come
13 analysis13 analysis
A Primer on the ‘Panama Papers’

14. 14 analysis14 analysis
from?
The documents first came
to light via an anonymous,
encrypted e-mail to the Sud-
deutsche Zeitung newspaper
in Munich.
The newspaper, which
had written about German
authorities raiding the head-
quarters of Commerzbank AG
in February 2015 on suspi-
cion that the bank helped
clients avoid taxes, received
the tip from a source who
claimed that the raid was
just a tiny piece of a much
more explosive scandal.
The tipster claimed to have
access to the inner work-
ings of Mossack Fonseca,
which specialized in forming
shell companies used to hide
billions of dollars in assets
and had clients that included
current and former leaders
from Argentina, Georgia,
Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, Sudan, the United
Arab Emirates and Ukraine,
as well as celebrities such as
soccer star Lionel Messi.
The German newspaper
enlisted help from the ICIJ,
which in recent years has
uncovered major stories
about secret offshore banks
and international tax avoid-
ance schemes.
The ICIJ and Suddeutsche
Zeitung had collaborated in
2014 on stories about secret
tax deals negotiated by the
Luxembourg government.
Gerard Ryle, director of the
ICIJ, said that once he and
other editors realized that
the Panama documents would
be of worldwide interest, the
organization put together a
team of 400 journalists in 80
countries to follow the trail.
How did investigators
authenticate the docu-
ments?
Once the tipster came
forward, ICIJ and editors
at the Zeitung newspa-
per spent months trying to
verify the authenticity of
the documents, the group
says. Because the German
authorities in the Commer-
zbank investigation had paid
a whistle-blower for a small
amount of information from
the law firm, the ICIJ and
Zeitung (which says it did
not pay for the documents)
were able to corroborate
some information they were
receiving.
“It started as a trickle of
data, and then turned into
a torrent,” Ryle said. “And
before long it was clear that
this would be of interest to a
worldwide audience.”
How have regulators
reacted?
In the UK, tax authorities
have asked the editor of the
Guardian newspaper, which
collaborated with ICIJ, for
access to information sug-
gesting that the father of
British Prime Minister David
Cameron was linked to one
such offshore company. Tax
authorities in Australia and
New Zealand are also inves-
tigating.
Scandinavia’s biggest lender,
Nordea Bank AB, has been
summoned by Swedish reg-
ulators to answer questions
about assistance it allegedly
provided to wealthy clients
to help them evade taxes.
What’s next?
Given the global sweep of
Mossack Fonseca’s activities,
more inquiries are likely to
be started in the days to
come. Iceland’s prime minis-
ter has rebuffed calls for his
resignation, and the coun-
try’s parliament has called
for snap elections that could
remove him from office.
The US Department of Jus-
tice, which has entered into
settlements with some of the
banks named in the doc-
uments over charges they
abetted money-laundering
and tax evasion, is reviewing
the new material, accord-
ing to Peter Carr, a Justice
Department spokesman. -
Bloomberg●