The Zimbabwean economy witnessed a slowdown in growth as evidenced by the decline in capacity utilisation levels in most of the productive sectors of the economy, a Government official has said. The Minister of Labour and Social services, Ms Paurina Mupariwa, made the remarks yesterday while opening the Institute of Personnel Management of Zimbabwe end-of-year labour briefing. Minister Mpariwa said the challenging economic environment had brought instability in the labour market.

"Invaluable productive time is expended on settling industrial disputes while retrenchment of workers becomes a primed solution across all sectors of the economy," Minister Mupariwa said.

"This is because business entities will be seeking to contain labour costs."

She said the high rate of prolonged negotiations was an indication of the standoff between employers and workers, which derailed productivity.

Ms Mpariwa highlighted that the only way the economy could grow would be by increasing labour productivity and enhancing the competitiveness of local goods and services.