Zimbabwe must hold elections before the end of June 2013, but the reforms needed to ensure appropriate conditions are critically wanting. The regional organisation – the Southern African Development Community -  calls for the removal of sanctions, claiming they are a serious political impediment to reform. Those who have imposed the measures, in particular, the European Union and the US,  argue the reform deficits justify their continuation, though they have been more symbolic than drivers of change. The sanctions gridlock now reflects the broader paralysis that characterises Zimbabwean politics.

Harare: Zimbabwe prefers the customs union than to adopt the Free Trade Area because local industry is yet to pick up, legislators heard last week. Appearing before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Regional Integration and International Co-operation Minister Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga said countries such as Zimbabwe stood to benefit from the customs union than the FTA.

Harare: China, through its private sector, has expressed interest in rehabilitating the 262km Harare-Mutare highway. Chinese ambassador, Xin Chunkang, said private sector investors from his country were presently conducting feasibility studies on the project which will be part of China's planned contribution to improve the region's trade routes. This will include reconstruction of the 250km Mutare-Beira Road linking Zimbabwe to the Indian Ocean port of Beira.

Harare:  Persistant problems with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra)’s new clearance system have forced the revenue collector’s board to intervene and stop the chaos characterising the country’s various ports of entry. Zimra board chairman Sternford Moyo told the Daily News that Zimra directors were due to visit Beitbridge during Easter holidays to conduct a “thoroughâ€� physical assessment of administrative measures at the border post.

Harare: The $20 million pilot one-stop-border project at Chirundu has reportedly failed to live to its billing as cargo destined for either Zimbabwe or Zambia still takes about three days before it gets cleared. This was revealed to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion during a visit to the border post last Friday.

Harare: Finance Minister Tendai Biti and Youth, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere could be headed for a clash after the former vowed to fight against the takeover of foreign-owned banks under the controversial empowerment regulations. Biti told The Financial Gazette's Companies and Markets in an interview that his ministry would oppose the disposal of 51 percent controlling interest held by foreign-owned banks, a position currently being pushed for by ZANU-PF politicians, including Kasukuwere.

Harare: Very correctly, although unjustifiably belatedly, government has recognised that there is a critical need to extend protection to Zimbabwe's manufacturing sector, and to facilitate and aid its survival, recovery, and growth. It is a harsh and tragic reality that, over the last three years, industry has been afflicted by innumerable negative factors of such magnitude that a very great number of manufacturing enterprises have ceased operations, an even greater number have had to resort to extensive downsizing, and almost all that still exist are confronted by a myriad of negative circumstances which place their survival in great jeopardy.

Harare: Finance Minister Tendai Biti has, undoubtedly, one of the toughest jobs in the inclusive government. He has been condemned for many things. Farmers believe he is doing little to revive agriculture while importers have no kind words for the protectionist measures he has put in place. In this Question and Answer with The Financial Gazette’s Chief Business Reporter, Bernard Mpofu, Biti speaks on a wide range of issues including the confusion at the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) and debate around the resuscitation of the Zimbabwe dollar.

Harare:  Zimbabwe recorded a 10% average rise in foreign tourist arrivals between 2009 and the first half 2011, driven by a stability in the political environment and massive marketing campaigns branding Zimbabwe a safe tourist destination. According to a report compiled by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), the country has since dollarisation registered growth in foreign tourist arrivals.

Bulawayo:  Tinashe Zuze’s story is a typical one of Zimbabwe’s professionals who have shunned formal employment. Instead of working for someone else, Zuze left his job as a bank teller and entered into the world of "wheeling and dealing" in illegal foreign currency.  It turned many into wealthy business people overnight since "the day the dollar died." Economists call it Black Friday. On Nov. 14, 1997 the Zimbabwean dollar crashed under the weight of unbudgeted spending.