Mthuli Ncube did not do a proper job on the original budget, says Mutodi

Goromonzi West legislator Energy Mutodi has urged the Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube to do a proper job in finding solutions to the economy, arguing that the original 2022 budget was poorly done.

Zimbabwe is currently experiencing severe economic challenges due to a lack of credit lines, sound economic policies, and poor-performing currency.

Most of the measures that have been proposed or introduced since the beginning of the year have failed to inspire confidence.

So severe is the situation in the economy that Minister Mthuli Ncube has had to do a supplementary budget that is about 100% of the original budget.

Speaking during the debate of the Midterm Budget Review, Honourable Mutodi said the treasury did not do a proper job on the original budget hence the challenges.

‘’As a member of the Committee Madam Speaker Ma’am, I have realised that the Supplementary Budget viewed in conjunction with the volatile exchange rate, high inflation, and increased interest rates, show that macro-economic factors affecting the economy were not accurately estimated.

‘’The Minister and his team did not do a proper job when they presented the Budget in the first place, putting forward figures which have turned out to be very little to cover the required payments that the economy is facing.

‘’This has seen us now reaching a trillion-dollar budget. This has led to the erosion of savings, loss of confidence in the Zimbabwe dollar, and extreme poverty among the generality of Zimbabweans.

‘’The huge Supplementary Budget means that inflation, exchange rates, and other macro-economic factors will continue to be on a skyrocketing trend and this is not desirable.

‘’The Minister is therefore encouraged to come up with robust ways of dealing with inflation. A proper plan for the estimation of the performance of macro-economic factors is in line with the foreseeable state of the nation.

‘’We know that the country is facing sanctions from the western capitals; we know that there is the Russian-Ukrainian conflict but this is not affecting Zimbabwe alone. South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia are being affected but their economies are not screaming at the same rate as our economy is doing.

‘’We want to encourage the Minister to really come up with robust ways of addressing these issues as they are actually impacting on the livelihoods of ordinary Zimbabweans. I thank you,’’ he said.

Mthuli Ncube did not do a proper job on the original budget, says Mutodi