ABIDJAN, Côte d'Ivoire, 02 March 2017 / PRN Africa / -- On February 28, 2017, Bank Group Director General (DG), Southern Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery Office, Tonia Kandiero, and Zimbabwe's Finance and Economic Development Minister, P.A. Chinamasa, signed a grant agreement on the Institutional support for State enterprise reform and delivery project (ISERDP) for a total amount of UA 3.0 million (approximately USD 4 million).
The project was approved by the Bank's Board in January 24, 2017 and aims to build capacity with a view to strengthening the result-based management system within Government and improve efficiency of the State enterprises and parastatals.
Speaking on the occasion, the Director General highlighted the Zimbabwe Government's commitment to sound corporate governance and efforts to revive the country's economy through improved service delivery, with special focus on integrated results management. She recalled that historically State-owned enterprises were a significant source of employment as well as productive investment with up to 40% contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. However, in recent years their performance has dwindled and posed a significant strain on the national budget. “No profound change can take place in our member countries including Zimbabwe, in the absence of effective institutions with good corporate structure, accountability, culture and mechanisms to track performance,” Kandiero said, adding: “State owned enterprises are key to delivering services and enabling citizens and private capital to realize their potentials.”
The Minister indicated that the project is in sync with the national economic blueprint Zim-Asset, under the public administration, governance and performance management sub-cluster. “It also dovetails with the objective of the country's Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy (I-PRSP) for 2016-2018, Pillar VII, aimed at strengthening governance and institutional capacity for effective service delivery and combatting corruption.”
According to Chinamasa, the project will assist the Government to implement reforms on public sector financial management and governance reforms in State-owned enterprises. “The project will contribute to enhanced transparency and accountability through fostering good governance, efficiency and enforcing best practices,” the Minister further noted, urging officials to ensure that Zimbabwe gets value for money through timely implementation and completion of the project.
SOURCE African Development Bank (AfDB)