Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries, Zimbabwe’s largest car assembly plant, has
been closed indefinitely, the website iAfrica.com reported, citing the state-owned
Herald newspaper.

The plant, which until recently built Mazda vehicles sourced in CKD form from
Japan, has given in to persistent and critical shortages of foreign exchange
in Zimbabwe necessary to import assembly kits, the report said.

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The firm’s more than 300 workers turned up for work on Friday after a month-long
involuntary holiday and found the gates locked, according to the daily.

However, workers will continue to receive salaries for the next five months
when some car kits are expected to arrive from Japan.

Zimbabwe’s economic crisis – marked by among other things high inflation
and acute shortages of foreign currency – has seen production levels drop
by 75 percent, the report said.







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