South Africa’s largest non-grocery retailer, Pepkor, confirmed on Monday that it intended to leave the Zimbabwean market place following a R70-million after-tax loss in the past financial year.
The retail chain conglomerate cited Zimbabwe’s challenging economic environment and triple-digit inflation as the reason for the exit.
It said adverse macroeconomic conditions, its impact on trade, and the crashing currency had contributed to the decision.
Pepkor is busy with final arrangements to conclude its departure.
Zimbabwe is experiencing its worst economic position since 2008, with the value of the Zim dollar continuing to plummet against the US dollar.
The continued lack of growth, coupled with rising inflation, has led most companies, especially foreign, to flee Zimbabwe because they’re not able to get forex out of the crippled country.
Additionally, Pepkor CEO Leon Lourens said the only reason they kept the doors open this long was for the sake of their people.
He stressed that the last few years had been challenging and that they had stuck it out on behalf of their employees.
However, plunging returns and mounting frustration proved too much in the end, prompting Pepkor’s decision to exit the country. – Bjorn Vorster
