Indian Billionaire Urges Govt To Resolve Forex Crunch

Varun Beverages has implored the government of Zimbabwe to ensure that investors are able to access foreign currency to import raw materials, failure of which will chase away the much-needed investors.

In an interview with State media on Friday after President Emmerson Mnangagwa officiated at the commissioning of three new production lines at the company, Varun Beverages, Ravi Jaipuria, said:

I think the key thing is that Government has to give comfort and confidence to the investors that once they invest in this country, they will at least be able to get the raw materials to run their (factory) plants.

Because if they are not able to get foreign exchange to run their plants then there will be nobody prepared to invest in this country.

Varun Beverages is an Indian company which produces a range of carbonated soft drink brands under PepsiCo franchise including Pepsi Cola, Mirinda, 7Up, Mountain Dew and Sting energy drink.

It requires about US$3 million a month to import key raw materials and recently expanded its manufacturing capacity to 35 million bottles per month from 13 million bottles a month.

More: Chronicle