Global Journal of Engineering, Design & Technology
Open Access

Abstract

An evaluation of concessionary funding given by the Government to exporting plastic firms in Zimbabwe

Godwell Karedza, Tongesai Mpofu & Mike Sikwila Nyamazana

The research study was aimed at evaluating concessionary funding given by the government to the exporting plastic firms in Zimbabwe. The study looked at the plastic firms operations, from 2010 to 2012 and focused only on loan support given during that period to support exports in the plastic industry.The main objectives of the study were to establish the effects of concessionary funding on export sales volumes of the Zimbabwean plastic Firms, to examine the effect of political power on concessionary funding in Zimbabwe. The researcher sought to find out how these variables affect plastic export sales volume. The study was prompted largely by the cut throat foreign competition which the Zimbabwean plastic firms faced and resulted in the drop of their sales volumes to an extent that the government intervened with concessionary funding to help local firms to export and increase their sales volumes. A descriptive research and exploratory design were used to gather the data from plastic exporting management and policy makers of which a sample size of 54 respondents was used. Data to answer the research problem was collected using interviews with management of policy makers, of which 10 managers were interviewed and self administered questionnaires to management of plastic exporting firms of which 40 respondents managed to return the questionnaires. These respondents were selected using both probability and non-probability sampling techniques. The assessment revealed some major findings which are discussed below: The assessment revealed that concessionary loans given benefited firms but not to a greater extent due to the fact that the maturity period for the loan was very short to an extent that firms failed to recover before the loan was paid back to the bank. Political power have a major influence in determining borrowing powers and therefore firms with a strong political affiliation have high chances in accessing a loan.