FINANCE and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli
Ncube has said Government is now living within its means and has not borrowed
from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in the last seven months.
Addressing a cross section of stakeholders at the 3rd Rural
District Councils chairpersons’ conference here, Prof Ncube said budget
overruns were a cancer that had affected Government for the past decade.
He said the Second Republic had managed to deal with the
cancerous culture through the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP)
promulgated last year.
“Our first order of business was just to make sure that we
eliminate one of the cancers that has bedevilled us over the last 10 years,
that of budget overruns and Government not living within its limits and
therefore causing fiscal deficits.
“I must say that we have stopped borrowing from the Central
Bank and the last time I checked we were borrowing $3 billion from the Central
Bank and we have stopped all that in the last seven months. If you check the
bank balance now is zero,” said Prof Ncube.
The Finance Minister defended the removal of the
multi-currency system saying the country needs a domestic currency so that it
moves faster on its economic recovery path.
“On the issue of domestic currency, we introduced it so we
move faster. It’s a journey which started in October 2018 and the goal is to
stabilise currency,” he said.
He challenged rural district councils to take a leading
stand in the country’s economic transformation agenda saying they look after
about 70 percent of the population.
Prof Ncube called for broader citizen participation as
enshrined in the vision 2030 which seeks to capacitate individuals to play a
part.
He said to get to the upper middle class income status, the
country needs foreign support hence re-engagement is key.
“We have to re-engage with the international community
because we are not an island,” he said.
Prof Ncube encouraged RDCs to utilise capital funds
allocated to them by the Central Government.
Speaking at the same occasion, Mines and Mining Development
Minister Winston Chitando said RDCs have a critical role to play towards
achieving Vision 2030, as most mining claims fall within their areas of
jurisdiction.
0 comments:
Post a Comment