Chronicle Editor
Nqobile Bhebhe, [email protected]
FINANCE, Economic Development, and Investment Promotion Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, has revealed that the much-anticipated 2025 National Budget will be presented on Thursday, with a strong focus on fostering economic resilience and advancing structural transformation.
The budget, anchored on the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), aims to consolidate the Second Republic’s gains and empower marginalised groups, including youth and people with disabilities.
In an interview, Prof Ncube described the forthcoming fiscal policy as “exciting” and forward-looking.
“I will be announcing the 2025 national budget on Thursday 28 November, and it will be an exciting one. The budget will seek to empower the youth and people with disabilities,” he said.
“The theme is on building resilience, which deepens our economic transformation, as seen since the advent of the Second Republic. For instance, when we empower the youth through targeted projects, we are building resilience that strengthens their ability to remain empowered,” he said.
This year’s pre-budgetary consultations saw ministries submit budgetary requests exceeding ZWG$700 billion, significantly higher than the Treasury’s ZWG$140 billion ceiling, equivalent to 18 percent of GDP. Despite the overwhelming demand, Prof Ncube indicated that the fiscal framework has been adjusted to accommodate some of the requests, demonstrating flexibility in balancing resource allocation.
The pre-budget seminar, held under Section 28(5) of the Public Finance Management Act, reinforced the Government’s commitment to transparency and accountability in managing public resources. The seminar brought together key stakeholders to align priorities with the fiscal strategy.
The 2025 National Budget is expected to deliver a balanced approach to economic growth, social empowerment, and fiscal stability, setting a solid foundation for Zimbabwe’s continued progress under NDS1 and beyond.
While Zimbabwe’s 2024 economic growth was downgraded from 3,5 percent to 2 percent due to the El Nino-induced severe drought, the 2025 outlook appears optimistic. Treasury projects a 6 percent growth, largely driven by recovery in the agricultural sector and increased resilience-building measures.
While the budget cuts across different sectors, agricultural investments remain key. It is expected that more focus would go towards supporting water infrastructure and also building resilience in terms of environmental protection for the country to benefit more from its natural resources.
Treasury will also invest in building currency resilience to anchor growth and stability, while also making sure exports grow, given that the domestic currency is backed by gold among other precious metals and foreign currency reserves.
According to the 2025 budget strategy paper, the Government plans to accelerate joint ventures with State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and explore the sale of non-core assets.
Treasury also plans to issue new securities such as green bonds, social bonds, diaspora bonds, and debt swaps on both the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange.
On the revenue front, the Government is expected to introduce measures to broaden the tax base, including automatic registration of small and medium enterprises for tax purposes and the inclusion of cross-border online transactions in the tax net.
The 2025 taxation proposals will focus on further streamlining tax expenditures, in particular, for the extractive sectors, where the Government has already excluded the mining sector from Special Economic Zone incentives, to ensure a fair share of the country’s finite resources as well as enhance optimal contribution to the fiscus.
Government has also announced plans to accelerate the shift to the local currency, with more taxes to be paid exclusively in the local currency.
On the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG), domestic prices, inflationary pressures, and the general economic environment are set to remain stable in 2025.
Introduced on April 5, 2024, the ZiG currency replaced the devalued Zimbabwe dollar, providing much-needed relief from spiralling inflation.
Prof Ncube expressed confidence that inflationary pressures and exchange rate volatility would remain subdued in 2025, underpinned by robust domestic pricing strategies and enhanced monetary policy.
derick.khumalo