2019 Zimbabwean Budget Statement
The 2019 Zimbabwean Budget Statement was presented to the August House on the 22nd of November 2018 by Mthuli Ncube and was his maiden budget speech as the Minister of Finance and Economic Development. The Budget statement was announced in the absence of the MDC Alliance legislators who were ejected from parliament for contempt of parliament as they refused to stand up when Emmerson Mnangagwa entered parliament.
The Budget by theme read Austerity for Prosperity
Primary objective
Ncube said that the primary objective of the 2019 Budget was to stabilise the economy by targeting the “twin deficits” of fiscal and current account, which had become major sources of overall economic vulnerabilities, including inflation, a sharp rise in indebtedness, accumulation of arrears and foreign currency shortages.
Key objectives
- Decisively dealing with fiscal indiscipline through use of austerity measures;
- Removal of pricing and policy distortions;
- Improving foreign currency generation and establishing
- efficient and optimal mechanisms for its allocation;
- Jobs creation, particularly for the youths, being the new entrants into the labour market;
- Promotion of productivity and export growth through incentives;
- Efficient public service delivery and not just input;
- Parastatals reforms and privatisation for a private sector-led economy;
- International re-engagement, clearance of debt arrears and investment promotion;
- Investing in research and development;
- Empowerment of Provinces and Districts;
- Gender equity promotion;
- Promotion of good governance;
- Fighting corruption; and
- Turn Zimbabwe into the gateway for investment into Africa
