Budget falls short on specific measures

of group economics Mr Joseph Mverecha said this during a parliamentary post-Budget seminar in Harare yesterday.
“The 2012 Budget has raised some important issues that need addressing, for instance on youth and gender mainstreaming, support of small-to-medium enterprises and re-capitalisation of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe among others.

“However, it was lacking in terms of actual measures to address some of the critical economic issues,” he said.
Mr Mverecha added that the budget framework growth target of 9,4 percent is generously optimistic given all the current constraints and uncertainty.
He said some of the critical areas that needed urgent address included money market instruments, labour market inefficiencies, capital expenditure of US$800 million, the doing business environment, bureaucratic red tape and corruption among others.

“For instance, there is need to simplify the tax code for SMEs, for example by introducing a flat 15 percent tax rate so that they are not forced into hiring accountants which they cannot afford.
“This way it can also improve Government’s revenues,” intervened Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce economist Mr Kipson Gundani.
Last week, Finance Minister Tendai Biti presented the 2012 National Budget, with the main highlights being the US$707 million allocation to the education sector, and retention of custom duty on selected raw materials.

The minister also set aside a US$40 million package for distressed firms, US$100 million for the recapitalisation of the central bank, retention of duty on selected imported goods, and increasing to 40,3 percent duty on imported textile and clothing goods up from 40,1 percent among others.

Minister Biti also said diamond sales are expected to contribute an estimated US$600 million to the fiscus.
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion chairman Mr Paddy Zhanda said Parliament would not be coerced to approve the Budget without carrying out a proper review.

“The Budget should not just pass through Parliament, but should be passed by parliamentarians.
“We need time to analyse this Budget and look at alternatives for key areas.
“There is need to look holistically at all sections of the economy. The growth rates the Finance Minister has been giving out are useless if the benefits do not trickle down to the poor,” he said.

This comes as various committees were set to commence meetings beginning yesterday moving into the rest of this week.
Mr Zhanda indicated that according to statutes, presentation of Zimbabwe’s National Budget had a deadline of up to January 30, and debatable thereafter.

Some parliamentarians who spoke to the Herald Business lamented the fact that in most of these parliamentary committee meetings, there was a tendency to politicise issues thereby undermining important national issues.