2023 Budget: Momentum towards meeting Abuja Declaration lost

Parliament has expressed disappointment on how Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has poured cold water on the progress that was being made towards meeting the Abuja Declaration commitment.

Zimbabwe, together with countries agreed to allocate 15% of national budgets to health care in what became known as the Abuja Declaration.

However, since signing to the declaration, Zimbabwe has failed to live to its signature.

Every other time the finance minister will blame the lack of fiscal legroom to meet the demand.

However, from 2018 up to 2021 there was considerable progress towards meeting the requirement, only for the 2023 budget to disrupt the progress.

The Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care said it is disappointing that the minister has decided to deflate progress.

‘’The 2023 allocation of 10.54% to the National Budget remains well below the Abuja Declaration target of 15%. In fact, the Committee is disappointed that the momentum that had been gained towards the 15% threshold between 2018 and 2021 has been lost.

‘’It is of very serious concern that Zimbabwe continues to miss this commitment despite it being a signatory to the Abuja Declaration.

‘’The trend has been that disbursements are always less than the allocated share, which is a worrisome practice to the Committee given that ZIMRA always exceeds it revenue collection targets. Where is the money going?

The Health Committee is also not happy with the levels of per capita spending in the last five years arguing that it renders the health sector unable to provide or guarantee quality health care.

‘’The Committee is concerned that the trend in per capita spending in the last 5 years remained below the expected optimum level of US$104 under the National Health Strategy and the US$86 as recommended by WHO.

‘’Such low levels of per capita spending in health care indicate that health financing in the country is insufficient to guarantee adequate access and quality healthcare.

‘’This implies that the health sector will continue to significantly rely on out-of-pocket expenditures and donor assistance. This is not sustainable given the low disposable income amongst the public and the unpredictability of donor support,’’ said the committee in its reaction to the 2023 budget.-