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per kg that the farmers were demanding, leading to a delay in the start of the selling season.
“As at 17 August 2012, an estimated 304 112 tonnes of seed cotton had been delivered countrywide,” Finance Minister Tendai Biti said.
Giving his monthly the economic update last week, Minister Biti said the strong showing in agriculture and mining meant there was no likelihood of further reduction of his economic growth forecasts. The agriculture and mining sectors, between them, account for about 50 percent of the Gross Domestic Product.
Last July, Minister Biti reviewed downwards his 2012 economic growth forecasts from 9,4 percent to 5,6 percent, citing poor performance of agriculture and depressed
revenue inflows.
“I don’t think there is a danger of revising the growth rates downwards, particularly given the unexpected growth in, for instance, cotton and tobacco,” he said.
“And again, (there is) the continuing high performance of our exports, in particular our minerals.”
Cumulative grain deliveries by August 2012 amounted to 63 278 tonnes, of which 63 178 tonnes is maize, valued at US$18,7 million. Maize deliveries were good despite 10 percent of the national crop having been written off due to drought in parts of the country.
Tobacco sales totalled 144 million kg (US$526 million) at an average price of US$3,66 per kg, against last season’s sales of 131,9 million kg (US$360,9 million) at US$2,74 per kg. This has been well complemented by strong growth in mineral exports, which brought in a total of US$1,58 billion in eight months.
“For the period January to August, platinum dominated mineral exports with US$511 million, followed by diamonds (US$456 million) and gold (US$401 million),” said Minister Biti.
While revenue continues to underperform Minister Biti was confident agriculture and mining would leverage economic growth. Actual revenue inflows for the period January to June were US$1,597 billion against US$1,837 billion targeted for the period.
Minister Biti said poor revenue inflows were affecting the implementation of Government programmes, including budgeting for civil servants’ bonuses, which require US$150 million. He attributed the revenue inflow deficit to poor remittance of revenue realised from the export of diamonds.
He said out of the US$456 million worth of gems exported only US$41 million had been remitted to Treasury since January this year.
Online Reporter