via Analysts tear ZimAsset apart | SW Radio Africa by Nomalanga Moyo on Friday, January 24, 2014
Zimbabweans should brace themselves for a lasting economic crisis as long as the ZANU PF government is at the helm, speakers at a panel discussion said Thursday.
The discussion, organised by rights lobby group Crisis in Zim Coalition, focused on the 2014 national budget and the government’s ZimAsset economic blueprint.
“The overarching view from the panelists was that the budget and ZimAsset are just propaganda because ZANU PF has neither the funds to implement this economic blueprint, nor the political will to do so,” according to Nixon Nyikadzino, one of the organisers.
“We wanted the Finance Minister and ex-finance ministers Tendai Biti and Simba Makoni to answer the questions whether ZimAsset is implementable on the current budget, but Chinamasa did not turn up,” Nyikadzino said.
Speaker after speaker tore into the government’s economic policies, with Biti saying that ZimAsset is anchored on the controversial indigenisation policy, which he said promotes capital flight rather than investor confidence.
Biti said the government’s $4 billion budget lacks credibility and that while it identifies the problems facing the economy, the solutions it suggests only feed those problems.
“The biggest problem with ZANU PF is that they don’t understand money and the economy. They are functionally illiterate. They think that money grows on trees,” Biti told the meeting.
The former minister urged ZANU PF to humble itself and engage the international community for financial assistance, and also to revise its investor-hostile empowerment policies.
“We need to stem the tide of de-industrialisation, we cannot celebrate informal businesses,” Biti said, adding that the informal sector was not taxable and could not be depended on as a revenue stream for Treasury.
Turning to Chinamasa’s projection that the country’s economy will grow by 6.1%, economist Godfrey Kanyenze said this is “grossly inaccurate and is illogical”.
“Domestic arrears are not included in the budget, they are over $97 million. The budget doesn’t have priorities, it contains projections and assumptions but the cash just isn’t there,” Kanyenze said.
Kanyenze said there was a need for the system to be completely overhauled but said he did not see this happening under the current set up.
“Any reform agenda cannot be done overnight, it takes years. Reforms will affect those who are benefiting from the current state of the economy, and they will not stand by idle,” he said.
Mavambo/Kusile/dawn party leader Simba Makoni slammed the ZANU PF government for blaming targetted sanctions for the self-inflicted economic decline.
“We need to stop blaming other people for our own problems. Corruption continues to weigh heavily in our everyday lives, all the problems Zimbabwe faces are caused by politics and power struggles,” Makoni said.
The former finance minister said the government needs to be receptive to new ideas and advice because “the government does not know it all”.
“Problems can never be solved by their creators. We need the government to be open to advice from wherever it comes from,” Makoni told the meeting.
COMMENTS
Simba Makoni is one of the most enlightened where it comes to economics. Problem he needs to reinvent himself. Forget about the party he has formed. It is early days yet to the next election. Forget about the current situation. Speak to the opposition. Join forces now and start putting your cards on the table. Don’t wait for the last minute. The time is now. Watch this space….
IT IS EMPTY AND HOLLOW!
None of this is news.
The whites really created a successful country which was occupied by blacks for centuries.The blacks may now control this country, but this country is now disgusting for all blacks, except of operating a small clique of personal thieves.
It is when the ruling party surrenders itself to ideological confusion that they are branding “new economy new politics”. This means nothing practically except diverting people’s attention and giving them a false hope. Observations from the participants are not surprising.
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Simba makoni is only man left with the ideology of economics and policies that can move Zimbabwe forwad. Citizens of Zimbabwe have confidence in him. All opposition parties should sit down and make a way forwad with the cleanliness of Dr Simba Makoni.
Forget talkshops. Nikuv erections. Do what the ukrainians are doing today. You had 33 years to change the rigged 1980 erection
It is more than obvious that a new economic approach to Zims disaster
must remove the politics and concentrate on what is good for an
economic recovery for all.
Am I dreaming ?
The Zimbabwean Economy has been in decline for the past two decades. We have come a long way with these recovery programs. Esap 1, 2 and 3 and may be a forth one called Vision 2020 which never took off. The erudite Masipula Sithole in one of his articles in the FINGAZ around 1995 said Mugabe should resign for any one of these reasons. 1 He could have said ‘My family is young and I need time with them’ or ‘ I ahev been at the helm of the country for 15 years now and it’s time we had some new leadership’ or better still he could have said ‘Economy ndaitadza, ndaikoniwa.’ Megalomaniac as he is, never took the advice and where are we now? He mught have been a great freedom fighter but has failed dismally as politician. What use is sovreignty if you cannot even feed your family? What good in indepedennce if yu have to scrounge around for meanial jobs in neighbouring countries. Do not blame other countries for our economic woes. The targeted sunctions only came whenn the country was in a mess, politically, economically and socially. This the trye stae of affairs. Right now corruption has taken its toll on Zimbabwe and who is going to remedy this? definitley not Mugabe!!!