Zimbabwe Receives Training in Foreign Private Capital and Use of the Private Capital Monitoring System

Following a request from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), MEFMI conducted an in-country training workshop to Zimbabwe on Foreign Private Capital Monitoring and Analysis using the MEFMI Private Capital Monitoring System (MEFMI- PCMS). The workshop was attended by officials from RBZ, Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT), Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA), Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Economic Planning. The workshop took place at the RBZ premises in Harare from 8 to 19 June 2015. 27 participants attended the workshop, of whom 38% were female and 62% were male.

The request for the workshop was premised on the need to enhance knowledge of officials in FPC compilation and reporting, and to facilitate hands-on training on the functionalities of the PCMS . There was also need to review and validate the quality of data in the returned survey questionnaires from the field. This follows the country’s launch of the first ever FPC Enterprise Survey in February 2015, that targeted 155 enterprises.

The mission team, led by Dr. Sehliselo Mpofu, Director – Macroeconomic Management Programme MEFMI, met with senior officials from RBZ at the start of the workshop, and expressed MEFMI’s gratitude to the Government of Zimbabwe for its continuous support to the Institute. She also enlightened the RBZ team on the progress made in different capacity building initiatives by MEFMI.

The team of resource persons included Ms Vivian Namugambe, MEFMI Programme Officer, Mr. Dennis Mollel from Tanzania (PCMS Developer), Mr. Wilson Phiri, Senior Economist at Bank of Zambia and Mr. Farai Masendu, Deputy Director at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Messers Phiri and Masendu are MEFMI Graduate Fellows in FPC Monitoring and Analysis.

The workshop was delivered through a combination of Power -Point presentations, follow-up discussions, and “hands-on” training using the MEFMI PCMS. In this regard, the training covered the following key aspects in FPC:

Concepts underlying FPC compilation and its linkages to the Balance of Payments Manual Six Framework (BPM6);

Use of the Framework for Direct Investment Relationships (FDIR) to identify enterprises with Foreign Assets and Liabilities (FAL);

Comprehensiveness of FPC survey data, drawing on experiences from MEFMI countries as documented in the MEFMI FPC Enumerators’ Handbook. This focused on updating an enterprise register, sampling methods, data uprating, and remedial measures for non-response;

Use of non-survey methods to compliment FPC survey data;

Use of financial statements to validate FPC survey data;

IMF Coordinated Direct Investment Survey (CDIS), and Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS) data collection initiatives;

Practical training on how to use the PCMS for data capture, processing, validation and generation of system reports;

Guidance on FPC survey report writing and dissemination; and

Sharing of sample FPC survey reports and dissemination practices from selected countries in the MEFMI region.

The final session of the workshop was graced with the presence of the Deputy Governor RBZ, Dr. Kupukile Mlambo, who thanked MEFMI for the technical support extended. He underscored RBZ’s commitment to the FPC survey project and urged the participants to consistently apply the knowledge and skills gained, even after the workshop.