via Zim needs budgetary support, says Biti – DailyNews Live by John Kachembere 5 NOVEMBER 2013
Zimbabwe desperately needs external budgetary support to help revive its economy, former Finance minister Tendai Biti says.
He said the greatest challenge in formulating the country’s 2014 budget will be limited resources.
“…the task is always that of managing a tiny envelope in an ocean of high demand and huge expectations,” Biti said.
He noted that dwindling national revenues will exacerbate pressure on the post-election budget to be presented later this month by newly appointed Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa.
“With accrued arrears of over $300 million and other unbudgeted for expenditure such as the $150 million Zambia maize loan scheme and the recent debt accrued in respect of the $160 million government agriculture input scheme, it is Armageddon,” Biti added.
This comes as the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) recently announced that it missed revenue collection targets in the third quarter, collecting $897,3 million from an expected $904,9 million.
Biti — who is the opposition Movement for Democratic Change shadow Finance minister — said it was imperative for government to secure financial support.
“The assumption that China or South Asia will provide resources is one that will be tested and its naivety proven. It is therefore easily foreseeable that the Zimbabwean dollar has to be brought back to allow monetisation of the humongous obligations and election promises made,” he said.
This comes as Zimbabwe’s economic troubles continue to be worsened by operational constraints such as power cuts, expensive capital, low capacity utilisation and investor apprehension owing to an uncertain regulatory framework.
Economist John Robertson said the country’s growth prospects are very weak due to government’s failure to enunciate policies that attract foreign investment and create a conducive environment for business.
“I do not foresee our economy growing by more than three percent. We need to address the policy discord obtaining in our economy and come up with austerity measures that can boost economic growth,” he said.
COMMENTS
Yes in zanu Pf we trust , l thing it is now time to focus on economic change rather than national leadership politics . As educated zimbabwean we need now to discover opportunities which were created by 3rd chimurenga struggle which l believe ended this year when Zanu Pf won the last election and proved their royal national leadership possession point. One must keep in mind the success of CDE ROBERT MUGABE during his political struggle to sustain hope and dream of effective black farming up today .it is in general principles that if you cant beat them join them of which this emerge when M.DC for Morgan Tsvangirai and Zanu PF formed the second unity government in the history of dzimbadzemabwe .l will be not fair enough if l fail to regard Mr
Morgarn Tsvangirai as a man with ‘peace concern ‘ in fact this is a man who showed that critic expose the hidden nature .l say thumbs up to both Mugabe and Tsvangirai for contributing future change of Zimbabwe
Clearly an uneducated response………
Naivity academics. The new multi currency is the non-exchangeable worthless renimbi yuan and china-masa dollar gono preparing the fidelity printing presses. It’s the laziest way for zanu criminals to balance the pathetic budget
DR ZEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! WHAT HAVE YOU TO SAY THIS TIME AROUND!
DR ZEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! WHAT HAVE YOU TO SAY THIS TIME AROUND!
Tendai Biti is one capable leader who can be grouped among people who would have contributed immensely and stirred Zimbabwe out of its quagmires. So far nothing positive is coming from the hoodlums in usurped power. They can’t even formulate a budget. All they are good at is brutality. thievery and corruption. They are all devoid of any ideas as to the direction the country should be taken, Useless bunch.
Mr Biti thank you for bringing sanctions to us so that IMF and World Bank would stop budgetary support. You are probably crossing your figures hoping that Chinamasa will not get external budgetary support. Please dont celebrate yet.
First and foremost Zimbabweans are the friendliest people you can ever find anywhere.Zimbabwe has the largest educated population in Africa.Anyone who wants to do business in Zimbabwe no matter how sophisticated, is assured of getting the requisite manpower.With all the above riches, it surprises me why Zimbabweans are not walking tall and working hard to safeguard their country’s riches.All the talk about ‘Third World’ ‘developing’ ‘poor’ and so on are what in South Africa they call ‘Tsotsi Taal’ – the language of the tsotsi – the criminal.All what is required is for us to join hands with the right investors and not ZANU-PF looters and together exploit the riches of our country and in the process uplift the living standards of our people.No more xenophobia, hostility, racism, isolation and selfishness.In this lovely place of earth live as far as I know and understand people of four different races: black, white, coloured and yellow. BUT, the bloood is red, the sky is blue and U.S dollars are green, FOR ALL OF US.First and foremost Zimbabweans are the friendliest people you can ever find anywhere.Zimbabwe has the largest educated population in Africa.Anyone who wants to do business in Zimbabwe no matter how sophisticated, is assured of getting the requisite manpower.With all the above riches, it surprises me why Zimbabweans are not walking tall and working hard to safeguard their country’s riches.All the talk about ‘Third World’ ‘developing’ ‘poor’ and so on are what in South Africa they call ‘Tsotsi Taal’ – the language of the tsotsi – the criminal.All what is required is for us to join hands with the right investors and not ZANU-PF looters and together exploit the riches of our country and in the process uplift the living standards of our people.No more xenophobia, hostility, racism, isolation and selfishness.