AUSTERITY measures introduced by government this year will
be over by next year when the country starts experiencing economic growth,
Finance and Economic Development minister Mthuli Ncube has said.
In addition to the cost-cutting measures, Ncube introduced
a 2% tax on intermediated financial transactions to shore up government
coffers, leaving an already overtaxed citizenry hard pressed.
Speaking at the Zimbabwe International Business Conference
held in Bulawayo yesterday, Ncube said the austerity measures could not be run
for a long time.
“We need to go through some period of austerity, but build
towards prosperity and I tell you that next year you will hear me use the word
austerity less and less because we will start entering prosperity,” Ncube said.
“I think I will limit austerity just to one year and then
we move to prosperity towards 2023. But quite clearly, you can’t do austerity
for three years; it’s a bad idea. One year, get it right and move on”.
He said government was doing well on the fiscus side. “The government is solvent. We are running surpluses and we
have been doing an average surplus of a $100 million a month since September
last year,” he said.
“This year alone, in January, we had a surplus of $102
million. In February we had a surplus of $85,5 million (and) in March our
surplus would be double that.
It will be just above $200 million. Money supply is not
growing. So where is the pressure on the exchange rate coming from?”
He said the pressure was coming from speculation, which is
bad for the economy.
Ncube also pleaded with industry to make use of the
interbank market, saying as government they were making sure that economic
fundamentals were put in place. Newsday
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