MTP review meeting set for Nov 12

in for October 17, but was moved to October 31 before it was rescheduled to November 12.
An official from the Ministry of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion yesterday said the meeting will definitely be held on the new date.
“We have been having some challenges in terms of our logistics, but the MTP review conference will be held on November 12, here in Harare. There have not been any changes as to the initial programme,” said the official.
The meeting is expected to assess if the Government has achieved the key targets of the MTP during this first full year of the programme’s implementation.
The MTP was launched in July last year. It is, however, largely anticipated that some of the key targets for this year have been missed as Zimbabwe continues to suffer from low foreign direct investment inflows and clogged lines of external credit.
Observers contend that the success of programmes to be implemented under the MTP hinges on the availability of funding.
Approximately US$9,3 billion is required for the implementation of the MTP over the five-year period to 2015. Cash constraints in the economy have resulted in both Government and the International Monetary Fund reviewing the country’s Gross Domestic Product growth downwards.
This year, the Government had initially targeted GDP growth of 9,4 percent, but this was later downgraded to 5,6 percent on the back of declining performance in major sectors of the economy. The IMF has projected a GDP growth for the country of 5 percent this year.
This is a noteworthy failure in respect of the MTP, which had targeted an economic growth rate of 7,8 percent this year, and an annual average growth rate of 7,1 percent up to 2015.
Meanwhile, FinX has reported that Finance Minister Tendai Biti has revised further downwards the economic growth figures for this year to 4,3 percent. This is in view of the new base information for last year’s GDP.
According to the revised data, Zimbabwe’s GDP last year stood at US$8,8 billion, therefore representing a growth of 10,3 percent. This year GDP is expected to rise to US$11,4 billion, a growth of 4,3 percent.
For next year, Minister Biti said the economy is projected to grow to US$12,7 billion, a growth of 7,4 percent.
This is again a downward review of an earlier projection in a 2013 Pre-Budget Strategy Paper that had projected Zimbabwe’s GDP to grow by 8,9 percent next year.
This was based on data from the 2013 Pre-Budget Strategy Paper which showed GDP at US$9,4 billion last year, expected to grow to US$11,4 billion this year and US$12,9 billion next year.