The president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) Denford Mutashu has said that the informal sector that has been on the rise in Zimbabwe is not willing to become formal. Mutashu said this during the CZR breakfast meeting where the World Bank Senior Country Economist Johannes Herderschee was also present.
“The informal sector is not willing to become formal as maybe because they see the problems with the formal” said Mutashu.
Many people in the country have joined the informal sector as a source of livelihood due to high unemployment rate which is arguably over 80 percent. During the meeting, Herderschee touched on the growth of the economy in the country. Herderschee said that economic growth had really declined since 2013.
“Growth is based on agriculture but all the other sectors are not doing well,” said Herderschee.
Zimbabwe experienced a bumper harvest following the heavy rains that were received across the country and the government has given the credit of the good agricultural season to their command agriculture.
Zimbabwe’s informal sector has continued to grow with the government arguing that it is also part of employment thereby giving an increased percentage of unemployment. This has however raised criticism with some economists arguing that the informal sector cannot be part of employment. Some of the unemployed people in Zimbabwe are also as a result of the continued closing down of the companies in the formal sector which are also a sign that the formal sector is not doing well.
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