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by Finance Minister Tendai Biti. Minister Biti proposed to cut the 2012budget from US$4 billion to US$3,6 billion among a raft of policy changes.
In the fiscal policy review the minister also reduced the economic growth prospects from 9,4 percent to 5,6 percent.
He cited poor revenue inflows into Government coffers caused by poor performance by the diamond and agriculture sectors.
In his statement to the Senate on Wednesday, Minister Biti reiterated that the inclusive Government was not speaking with one voice on national issues.
He said there was also little implementation of agreed policies by Government.
“Politics cross speaking is continuously derailing this economy . . . this Government is long on talking and short on implementation.
“People talk too much and less action. We have come up with a lot of programmes like Short Term Economic Recovery Programme, the Mid Term Plan . . . there are a lot of things that we have even agreed in the 2012 budget that we have not implemented,” he said.
Minister Biti said some of the issues include parastatal reforms and the adoption of industrialisation of the country through clusters.
The country, said the minister, could be divided into various clusters depending on the resources available in that particular area and establish industries that add value to those resources instead of exporting raw material as is being currently done.
“The accumulation model we have is based on extraction, we have not altered our model from that we had in 1890, 1923, 1972 or 1989.
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“If you look at two of our major cash crops tobacco and cotton, the bulk of our raw tobacco goes outside yet when you compare, the value of 1kg of processed tobacco is equivalent to large amount of raw tobacco and the same applies to cotton,” Minister Biti said.
He reiterated that Zimbabwe could only grow economically through accessing Foreign Direct Investment.
The minister said the country had regressed from being the second largest economy in the region to third from bottom with only countries such as Lesotho, Malawi and Swaziland behind.
Minister Biti said changes to the banking sector were in the offing while an Act to administer the Constituency Development Fund would be brought to Parliament before the end of the year.
Contributing to the debate on the budget, Senator Agnes Sibanda said it was necessary for the whole Cabinet to appear before the Senate and explain the problems in the inclusive Government.
“I am shocked that you said the whole Cabinet is dead . . . I propose that the whole Cabinet including the President come to this House so that we ask them why they are failing to solve the country’s problems,” she said.
Online Reporter