Zimbabwe has lowered its diamond revenue target of $600 million for the year due to a slump in the world gem prices, an official said.
No new target for the diamond revenue was given.
“We have actually projected certain targets, but of late, in the past three to four months, the diamond prices have actually gone down and there hasn’t been sufficient production to meet our projections,” Mines and Mining Development minister Obert Mpofu was quoted by The Herald newspaper as saying.
“They cannot produce for a loss.”
He also said that the country’s diamond revenue had been truncated by sanctions.
“Our buyers have been threatened by the Americans and the British. We are experiencing that on a daily basis,” Mpofu said.
“Some payments from our buyers have been intercepted. Our customers are being deterred from buying our diamonds by these things.”
Finance minister Tendai Biti was forced last July to review downwards the National Budget to $3,640 billion from $4 billion as a result of poor revenue inflows from diamonds.
Meanwhile, Mpofu said the forthcoming diamond conference set for Victoria Falls next month presented an opportunity for the country to spruce up its battered image and attract more investments.
He said the presence of the Kimberly Process chairperson Gillian Milovanovic at the conference would strengthen the organisation, which had been for some time bickering over the legitimacy of Marange diamonds and issues pertaining the definition of conflicts gems.
“Her coming here is to strengthen the organization … she has performed fairly well during her term,” Mpofu said.
“This term has made a lot of progress in terms of the consolidation and uniting member states unlike the previous chairs. We had very unfortunate experiences with certain countries that chaired the KPC in the last three or so years, but she has been very fair to everybody and to issues that are tabled before the organisation.”
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
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