By Funny Hudzerema

HARARE - The Zimbabwe Rev-enue Authority (ZIMRA) is tar-geting a 3, 2 percent growth in revenue during the 2016 period despite challenges of the econ-omy and non-complaince by tax-payers.

The target is anticipated to be met through ZIMRA’s automation programme which is expected to increase transparency in the col-lection of revenue.

ZIMRA commissioner-general Gershem Pasi said ZIMRA is going to expedite the automation programme to meet its revenue target to contribute towards eco-nomic growth.

“For 2016 the year has just bing-

ing the target is more or less the same as last year because really we are anticipating the same because the Minister of Finance anticipated a stand still position in terms of economic growth.

“We don’t want to look the tar-get in isolation we look at the target in terms economy was been doing and we revised that when we started the year 2015 we anticipated growth in domes-tic product of about 3,2 percent by year end but it was 1,5 per-cent which means that the target was set on a higher economic performance level than the actual outturn,” he said.

He said this during the celebra-tions of the International Cus-toms Day, targeting to increase

awareness on the advantages of paying tax.

“For 2015 if we were an operat-ing company we would say we have met the target because it is within the 10 percent range on a net basis.

“When we say net basis it means we takeaway refunds with other issues we were about 8 percent below target at gross we were slightly over the target,” he said.

He added that net basis explain issues of refunds of the VAT refunds, income tax refunds and so on and we have some refunds which were occasioned by some charges during the midterm fis-cus.

“So when we took these things

in that light we say the perfor-mance was not too bad,” he said.

In her remarks during the same event ZIMRA board chairman Mrs Willia Bonyongwe said Zimra is targeting to complete its auto-mation programme at all the border posts to improve trans-parency in the collection of rev-enue.

“We are targeting to complete the automation of our border posts by end 2016 since most of the base work has been done,’ she said.

This year’s international cus-tom day was running under the theme “Digital Progressive Engagement,” focusing on digi-talization border posts and clear-ance agency at border posts.●

News Update as @ 1530 hours, Tuesday 26 January 2016Feedback: bh24admin@zimpapers.co.zwEmail: bh24feedback@zimpapers.co.zw

Zimra targets 3,2pc revenue growth in 2016

BH24

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BH24 Reporter

HARARE – The now defunct financial services institution Interfin Bank is set to dispose its assets to settle a $126,52 million debt owed to creditors after the bank collapsed.

Deposit Protection Corporation (DPC) public relations man-ager Mr Allen Musadziruma said they were now at an advanced stage on collating all properties which belong to the bank.

“The total value of claims which were proved in the three meetings held for Inter-fin Bank creditors’ amount to $126,52 million, and creditors will be paid from proceeds realised from asset disposals and loan recoveries.

"As reported in our second meeting of Interfin creditors, the estimated liquidation div-idend to concurrent creditors is $0,13 per dollar,” he said.

The depositor watchdog insti-tution last year confirmed that it had carried out a foren-sic investigation on Interfin’s failure which showed that the financial institution had col-lapsed largely as a result of high levels of non-performing insider loans.

Interfin was placed under judi-cial management early 2014 after it failed to secure $50 million in fresh capital wihin a three-year curatorship.

Meaanwhile, the DPC has said payments to other failed banks, namely, Afrasia, Allied Bank, Interfin Bank, Genesis

Investment Bank, Royal Bank and Trust Bank depositors are in progress.

“The cover level is currently set at $500 per depositor per bank.”What this means is that all clients of the closed bank with balances below $500 will be reimbursed in full the amount that was in their account at the time of bank closure provided they submit a duly completed claim form,” said Mr Musadziruma.

He added that the balance above the cover level of $500 is still paid through the liq-uidation process on a pro-rata basis. As provided for in the law and the public policy objectives, DPC is designed as a risk minimiser.

Besides compensating depos-itors in the event of a bank failure, DPC also actively par-ticipates in the resolution of failing or failed member insti-tutions, curatorship and liqui-dation of closed banks.●

3 NEws

Disposal of Interfin assets draws nearer

BH24 Reporter

HARARE – Pretoria Portland Cement says it has taken a knock on its cement sales in Zimbabwe due to the completion of major infrastructure projects in the coun-try.

PPC board chairman Mr Bheki Sibiya in a trading update for the quarter October to December 2015 said:

“The conclusion of major infra-structure projects in Zimbabwe has led to double digit declines in local sales and cement exports have also reduced significantly on the back of exchange rate effects,” he said.

He however added that the group's expansion plans in the region, including Zimbabwe were "in line with expectations".

“PPC´s expansion remains well on track and we are pleased to advise that construction at our sites in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Zimbabwe and Ethiopia is in line with expectations.”.●

Major infrastructure com-pletion hits PPC Zim sales

BH244

By Munesu Nyakudya

HARARE - Tobacco growers that registered for the 2015/2016 season have declined by 20 percent compared to the previ-ous season, latest figures from the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB) show.

At least 70 412 farmers have registered to date compared to 88 536 registered growers dur-ing the same period.

At the same time, new tobacco growers who have registered for the current season are 45 per-cent below prior season.

According to TIMB, 9 025 new growers have so far registered for the 2015/2016 season com-pared to 16 516 new tobacco farmers that had registered dur-ing the same period last season

In terms of provinces, 859 of the new farmers that registered were from Manicaland province, 3 714 Mashonaland Central, 768 Mashonaland East, 3 552 Mash-onaland West, 29 Masvingo, 2 Matebeleland and 101 from Mid-lands.

The total number of new com-munal farmers who have regis-tered were 5 126, while 3 292 were A1, 346 A2 and 261 are small scale farmers.

Meanwhile, TIMB public relations and communications manager Mr Isheunesu Moyo said the country has so far exported 152 million

kilogrammes of tobacco from the 198 million kg that was produced last year.

"When tobacco buyers or mer-chants buy the leaf from the grower or farmers, they do not immediately export it. They sometimes hold on to it and sell at the opportune time.

"In 2014 we produced 216,6 million and 135,5 million was exported. In 2015 we produced 198,9 million and 152 million has so far been exported. The buy-ers have been able to buy all the tobacco we produce in Zimba-bwe," he said.●

5 NEws

Registered tobacco growers down 20pc

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BH246

HARARE - Dams in Zimbabwe are on average 51 percent full, and the water is not enough to last the country until the next season, a cabinet Minister said on Monday.

Since the beginning of the rain sea-son last October, Zimbabwe has received mostly below normal rain-fall. Water levels across the country are generally low and continue on a sharp decline due to the erratic rains received as a result of the global El Nino effect.

Environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri told the media existing dam water levels were an unfortunate situa-tion as most of them did not have enough water to last the country till the next rainy season. “This paints a bleak picture as some towns and cities will have to resort to strict water management strategies.

“All in all, the country’s dams are on average 51 percent full at a time when we usually have dams spill-ing. These are chilling effects of the climate phenomenon which has not only affected Zimbabwe, but the

whole SADC region,” she said.

Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said most of the dams were drying up, for example in Manicaland Osborne dam stands at 33 percent, Chesa and Mazowe dams in Mashonal-and Central are 33 percent and 31 percent full respectively. She said ground water levels especially in cit-ies such as Harare were also under threat as the water table contin-ued to recede because people had resorted to use of ground water as an alternative to municipal supply.

“Our water sources are drying up in all the seven catchments namely Runde, Save, Manyame, Mazowe, Sanyati, Gwayi and Mzingwane due to rainfall patterns over the past 5 years,” she said. Minister Muchin-guri-Kashiri urged all citizens to use water sparingly.

“Citizens of Zimbabwe, this address is a clarion call for all of us to be highly responsible and adopt measures that will ensure that we go through the drought period together,” she said.-New Ziana●

7 NEws

Zim dams 51 percent full; call for water preservation

HARARE - Zimbabwe Stock Exchange l isted horticul-tural f irm Ariston today released a cautionary fur-ther to the cautionary announcement published on 05 January 2016, saying it is "negotiating a transac-tion"

The transaction involves a proposal received by the board from the major shareholder of the com-pany, Origin Global Hold-ings.

"The transaction involves a proposal received by the Board from the major shareholder of the com-pany, Origin Global Hold-ings which is undergoing the normal Zimbabwe Stock Exchange l isting require-ments and other regulatory requirements, and share-holders wil l be provided with more details in due course," said Ariston.

Earl ier indications by sources privy to the pro-posed deal pointed to Ori-gin Global seeking to con-vert loans they extended to the company into equity as part of balance sheet restructuring.

Such a restructuring would naturally result in the majority shareholder boosting its equity in the horticultural f irm Origin Global Holdings currently holds a 67,64 percent stake in Ariston.●

Ariston negotiating a transaction

BH248

HARARE - The mainstream industrial index shifted gears to lose 0.42 to settle at 102.75 after yesterday's blip gain.

Selected heavyweights were responsible for the knock as giant insurer Old Mutual plunged $0,1082 to close at $1,7000, while conglom-erate Innscor decreased by $0,5000 to $0,2000

Giant retailer OK Zimbabwe lost $0,0025 to trade at $0,0375 and giant telecoms Econet retreated by a mar-ginal $0,0004 to $0,1978.

Willdale inched down by $0,0001 to close at $0,0019.

On the upside CFI rose by $0,0034 to trade at $0,0606, while SeedCo gained $0,0011 to $0,8250

and Padenga added $0,0002 to settle at $0,0700.

The mining index was steady at 19.53 as Bindura, Falgold, Hwange and RioZim all maintained previous price levels at $0,0100, $0,0050, $0,0300 and $0,1040 respectively

- BH24 Reporter ●

ZsE9

Bourse turns southwards

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MovERs CHANGE TodAy PRiCE UsC sHAKERs CHANGE TodAy PRiCE UsC

CFI 5.94 6.06 OK ZIM -6.25 3.75

PADENGA 0.28 7.00 OlD MuTuAl -5.98 170.00

SEEDCO 0.13 82.50 WIllDAlE -5.00 0.19

INNSCOR -2.43 20.00

ECONET -0.20 19.78

iNdEx PREvioUs TodAy MovE CHANGE

INDuSTRIAl 103.17 102.72 -0.42 points -0.41%

MINING 19.53 19.53 +0.00 POINTS +0.00%

11 ZsE TABlEs

ZsE

iNdiCEs

stock Exchange

12 diARy oF EvENTs

The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.

PowER GENERATioN sTATs

Gen Station

26 January 2016

Energy

(Megawatts)

Hwange 441 MW

Kariba 285 MW

Harare 30 MW

Munyati 30 MW

Bulawayo 19 MW

Imports 0 - 250 MW

Total 1278 Mw

—28 January 2016 – Chamber of Mines Zimbabwe state of the Mining industry Report 2015 launch; venue: Rainbow Towers; Time: 0730hrs -1300hrs

—10 February 2016 - Nampak Zimbabwe Annual General Meeting: venue 68 Birmingham Road, southerton, Harare: Time 12:00

—18 February 2016 - 70th Annual General Meeting of the members of CAFCA ; Place: Boardroom at the company’s registered office at 54 lytton Road, workington, Harare; Time: 12:00 hours

—23 February 2015 - 38th Annual General Meeting of the members of Powerspeed Electrical limited; Place: Powerspeed Board-room, Gate 1, Powerspeed Complex, Corner Cripps Road and Kelvin Road North, Graniteside, Harare; Time: 1100 hours

THE BH24 diARy

CAPE TowN - South Africa's rand weakened in early trade on Tuesday as an oil price plunge swung global markets away from riskier assets.

Stocks were also weaker in early trade, with the broader All-share index down 0,81 percent and the blue-chip Top-40 slipped 1,06 percent.

The rand was changing hands at 16,6100 to the dollar by 0652 GMT, 0,45 percent weaker than its 16,5400 Mon-day close in New York.

A renewed bout of negative sentiment concerning emerg-ing markets ensured that the rand' s recovery came to a halt on Monday, filtering into early Tuesday trade as crude oil dropped below $30 a bar-rel.

"Considering this morning’s softness in commodity prices and fall in Asian equity mar-kets, commodity-based cur-rencies, including the rand, are likely to remain under pressure today," said Barclays Africa currency strategist Mike Keenan in a note.

In fixed income, government bonds tracked the rand lower as investors waited for clear signs of both the uS Federal Reserve monetary trajectory as well as the South African Reserve Bank's (SARB).

The yield on paper due in 2026 ticked up 5 basis points to 9,658 percent.

Investors will be cautious ahead of the SARB's mone-tary policy committee meet-

ing beginning on Tuesday to determine its rate decision and an update on the bank's inflation and growth outlook on Thursday.

- Reuters●

REGioNAl NEws 13

Rand weakens as global market sell-off resumes

Growing concerns over China and the oil rout triggered a second day of losses for Euro-pean equities.

Energy and commodity pro-ducers led declines in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, which fell 1,6 percent at 8:07 a.m. in london. Money is flowing out of China, trig-gering a slump in its shares, and oil plunged below $30 a barrel again.

The biggest two-day rally since 2011 was short lived as Italian banks and com-modity producers resumed a selloff. After ending last week higher as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi signaled additional stimulus, stocks fell again on Monday. The correlation between oil and global shares has been rising, and the two asset classes are now the most cor-related since 2013.

Siemens AG climbed 3,9 per-cent after raising its annual profit forecast. Royal Philips NV advanced 4,2 percent after reporting that fourth-quarter profit rose more than esti-mated on growth in medical

equipment.

EasyJet Plc fell 3,1 percent after posting revenue that

missed estimates. Deutsche Post AG 3,3 percent after Credit Suisse Group AG cut its recommendation on the

stock to the equivalent of a sell from a buy.

- Bloomberg●

iNTERNATioNAl NEws 14

Europe stocks decline for second day on China concern, oil rout

By Tom Jackson

According to the African Devel-opment Bank (AfDB), as far back as 2011 there were already 313 million people – or 34 per cent of the continent’s total population – that could be referred to as middle class.

Yet at the same time, other par-ties see it differently. According to Standard Bank, only 15 mil-lion households in the 11 largest Sub-Saharan African economies fall into the bracket. Consultancy firm EIu Canback agrees there has been growth, but not as much as many think, suggesting that the African middle class rose to 6,2 per cent of the continent’s population in 2014, up from 4,4 per cent in 2004.

The disparities in estimates arise from differences in defining what exactly “middle class” is. The AfDB defines it as people spend-ing between $2 and $20 per day, and has a separate category for “stable middle class” – which it said stood at 123 million people in 2011.

Income, wealth, and consump-tion can all be used to establish class. Yet despite the disparities in exactly how big it is, all observers – including the AfDB and Standard Bank – remain convinced Africa’s consumer market is burgeoning, and bringing with it increased opportunities for businesses on the continent. Investor George Soros says the growth of the con-tinent’s middle class is one of the only economic bright spots across the world currently.

The size of the opportunity has not been lost on international com-panies. Accommodation booking platform Airbnb, which rents out

rooms or whole properties online, is scaling up its operations in the region, having already seen size-able growth.

It has more than doubled listings and seen user numbers increase by 145 per cent over the last year. Airbnb is following a path already mapped out by taxi-hail-ing giant uber, which has rapidly established an African presence in eight cities – Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Nairobi, Cairo, Casablanca and lagos. Samantha Allenberg, communica-tions associate for Africa at uber, says the company believes there is great potential given the growth

of the continent’s middle class.

“We are changing the way people think about getting around, we are changing the way people con-nect with the people in their cities. In Africa we have partnered with a significant number of drivers and provided them with the tools to build their own small businesses. We have enabled thousands of work opportunities across Africa and believe we can enable thou-sands more in the coming years,” she said.

This international interest in Africa is only set to increase as the mid-dle class – however we define it – continues to grow. The AfDB says there will be 1,1 billion middle class Africans by 2060, while the McKinsey Global Institute thinks African consumer spending will hit $1,4 trillion by as soon as 2020.

Angel investor Eric Osiakwan said this continuing growth offers international companies a market that was previously very small, and where before they would have had to scale much faster.

“The middle class has an

15 analysis15 ANAlysis

Africa's rising middle class – and why it matters

16 analysis16 ANAlysis

unquenchable taste for technol-ogy innovation but we have seen this now at the bottom of the pyr-amid markets especially, because in their case it is providing a live-lihood,” he said. “So as technol-ogy lifts people out of poverty into the middle class we would see an expansion that pulls in a level of momentum that would generate a tipping point effect somewhere in the 21st century.”

what the middle class really wants

It is not just large international companies that are set to benefit from the growth of the continent’s middle class. Arielle Sandor is chief executive officer of Kenyan jobs platform Duma Works, and says it has opened up new oppor-tunities for smaller, more local businesses too.

“The growth of the middle class signifies that more people will have enough money to begin building personal businesses,” she said.

“When they do this, Duma Works wants to be there for them when they need to find talent to support

this growing business.”

Youth – and media consump-tion – are key to this segment. Young Africans – in many African countries more than half the pop-ulation is under the age of 25 – are increasingly online. Internet penetration on the continent has increased by 6,839 per cent in the last 15 years, with Frost & Sulli-van saying mobile penetration in the region will increase to 79 per cent by 2020.

But what do these consumers want? Sandor says middle class consumers typically have higher standards for services they are using.

“This is because they have increased exposure to many options, rather than relying on the most broadcasted company that holds a monopoly in a given sec-tor,” she said.

Johann Jenson, CEO of accom-modation marketplace SleepOut.com, agrees with Sandor that customer service has become especially key as the middle class grows and competition for its attention increases.

“Modern African consumers are still not as demanding as what you might find in other economies such as the uS or Europe, but there is a noticeable trend towards higher service levels given the multiple channels consumers now have to voice their discontent or satisfaction,” he said. For Osiak-wan, the middle class is looking for appropriate technology to save them time on “mundane stuff”, something services like uber, Air-bnb and SleepOut can certainly claim to do.

In an African business climate where many companies have tra-ditionally relied on newspapers or billboards to advertise to poten-tial customers, does the rise of a younger, more affluent middle class change things? The answer is almost certainly yes, but the change is slow, and as yet ineffi-cient and ineffective.

While the vast majority of mid-dle class consumers operate in the digital space, many African marketers are still using mass approaches in offline media. Yet change is being driven by both multinationals and smaller, young

businesses targeting the middle class. Osiakwan, indeed, says the growth of the middle class seg-ment will “turn marketing com-pletely on its head”, with tech-niques such as mobile marketing taking centre stage

“I think with a bigger middle class, we will see digital market-ing through means like Facebook, Twitter, and linkedIn, for exam-ple,” Sandor said.

“These consumers are online more, so this is natural. I also think that it will force all market-ers to up their game and be really unique – especially when they are appealing to millennials in the middle class.”

Aisha Pandor, CEO of South Afri-can on-demand domestic clean-ing startup SweepSouth, says, however, that there are two parts to the middle class that com-panies need to be aware of. For the younger, newer middle class, digital marketing methods and customer service are key, but the traditional middle class, which remains offline, is still key. - New African Magazine●