Zimbabwe business lobby group calls for Argentina-style reforms

Zimbabwe’s main business lobby group urged the government to implement a raft of measures to reduce firms’ operating costs, and said Argentina’s reform program could serve as a template.

Zimbabwe “requires bold and accelerated reforms, including systematic deregulation inspired by Argentine’s President Javier Milei’s one deregulation per-day model,” the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries said in a letter to the Industry and Commerce Ministry. “Maybe in Zimbabwe, it could be one deregulation measure a week, it said.

Decades of government mismanagement and policy missteps have taken a heavy toll on Zimbabwe — poverty and unemployment are widespread, basic services are lacking or non-existent, and hard currency shortages and runaway inflation are perennial problems. The CZI identified nine areas requiring immediate intervention, including cutting the state’s debt to the private sector, adjusting a 30% foreign-currency retention threshold for exporters and reducing sugar taxes on beverage makers.

It also called for a currency policy revamp and for the central bank to formalise and legalise its proclamations on phasing out the use of the dollar, so as to strengthen business and investor confidence. Most transactions in the southern African nation are currently conducted with the greenback, and the authorities aim to end that practice and ensure the bullion-backed Zimbabwe Gold currency is used solely by 2030.

Zimbabwe’s Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu didn’t immediately respond to a call to his mobile phone seeking comment. Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube last month said the authorities are working on tackling regulatory constraints faced by formal businesses that bear the brunt of taxes, while a burgeoning informal sector avoids paying.

In Argentina, Milei has been spearheading a campaign to make it easier to do businesses, promote investment and reduce the role of the state in the economy, including scrapping most price controls and abolishing a number of regulations.

© 2025 Bloomberg

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