Chronicle Editor
FINANCE and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, will present his mid-year fiscal policy review statement and supplementary budget next Wednesday.
The review statement is expected to give impetus to the ongoing economic reform drive, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa confirmed the development. She said a preliminary mid-year fiscal policy report presented by Prof Ncube to Cabinet on Tuesday pointed to better economic fortunes for the country.
“Cabinet considered a preliminary report by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development on the mid-year fiscal policy review. The fiscal policy review confirmed the position that as a consequence of the reform measures being undertaken by Government, the country’s economy was now heading towards macro-economic stabilisation,” she said.
“A more comprehensive presentation on the subject matter will be made to Parliament during the mid-year fiscal review and supplementary budget statement, which is scheduled to take place on the 31st of July 2019.”
Prof Ncube is confronted by a host of challenges including rising inflation, fuel and power shortages, falling industrial productivity and a restive Government workforce whose salaries have been eroded by inflation. Government is already seized with implementing the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP), which is the foundation upon which President Mnangagwa’s Government aims to springboard the country to an upper-middle-income economy by 2030. Prof Ncube has adopted austerity measures to undo years of economic mismanagement.
Government insists the austerity measures, which have seen massive cuts in public spending and borrowing, are necessary to bring the economy back on track, and grow it in the long run. For the first time in years, Government is now running a budget surplus, which is being utilised to fund social protection programmes. Treasury has also re-introduced the local currency, the Zimbabwe dollar, declaring it the sole legal tender, ending a decade long use of foreign currencies in domestic transactions.
Government has promised to implement supporting policy measures to ensure stability of the newly introduced local currency, which consists of bond notes and coins and the RTGS dollar. President Mnangagwa has declared war on corruption while a parastatal reform programme, meant to increase their contribution to the economy, is also taking shape.
Government is also pursuing the rationalisation of the civil service in order to contain the high wage bill while also prioritising the aggressive marketing and re-branding of Zimbabwe to facilitate tourism, trade and investment. The country has agreed to undergo an International Monetary Fund staff monitored programme, which entails the monitoring of its economic targets and policies by the financial institution.
-New Ziana
Online Reporter