The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) Research Department delegation paid a courtesy call on the MEFMI Executive Director, Dr. Caleb Fundanga on Wednesday 6 April 2016. The ZIMRA delegation was made up of Ms. Rose Chikonzo (Head-Research & Development); Mr. Samuel Mudavanhu (Manager-Research & Development) and Mr. Maveka (Manager, Research & Development) while Mr. Patrick Mutimba (Director-Financial Sector Management Programme) and Mr. Sayed Timuno (Programme Manager-Macroeconomic Management Programme) also represented MEFMI. The meeting took place at the MEFMI offices in Alexandra Park, Harare.

The objective of the courtesy call was to strengthen the relationship between the two organisations. Dr. Fundanga gave a brief background of MEFMI and its capacity building initiatives. He informed the delegation that MEFMI stands ready to assist ZIMRA in building sustainable capacity in relevant areas. He gave an up-date on some of the capacity building activities that MEFMI has undertaken in the region and on the recent launch of the book that chronicles the economic experience of Zimbabwe during the hyperinflation period. The book, titled “ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT IN A HYPERINFLATIONARY ENVIRONMENT: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ZIMBABWE 1980 – 2008” was launched on Friday, 18 March 2016 in Harare, Zimbabwe.

The meeting also discussed various ways in which the two organisations can collaborate, which include joint research projects, targeted capacity building for ZIMRA, which covers areas such as Natural Resources Management, focusing on issues of concessions, taxation and sovereign wealth funds. The discussions also covered some key areas such as building economic models that forecast revenues, participation of ZIMRA staff on the MEFMI FellowsDevelopment Programme and trained trainers programme, regional and in country capacity building activities, just to mention a few. The meeting agreed that ZIMRA will have access to all MEFMI research papers once they are published on the website.  . The meeting also agreed that MEFMI will strengthen its working relationship with.