Biti Says 2023 National Budget Is Anti-people

CCC vice president, Tendai Biti, has said Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli should have dollarised the economy, instead of announcing a Zimbabwe dollar-indexed 2023 national budget.

On Thursday, Ncube proposed a ZWL$4.5 trillion budget, which Biti, a former Finance Minister, said ought to have been indexed in US dollars. He said:

A very cruel budget when you consider the increase in VAT to 15%, but I think the fundamental problem is that with inflation of 268% and the fact that most government revenues are now pegged in US dollars, this budget to be meaningful, ought to have been indexed in US dollars.

In our view, he should simply have announced a US$4 billion budget. If you look at the figures, it is a $4.2 trillion budget, which translates to US$4 billion at an exchange rate of the used USD1 to ZW$100.

The failure to pay civil servants in US dollars is a complete disaster. He has reduced the rate of IMET tax from 4% on US dollars to 2%.

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He just needed to scrap the intermediate money transfer altogether, but as you can see, it is an anti-people budget.

Biti said the budget is anti-people and is premised on wrong and faulty assumptions. He said:

We find it a very anti-people budget premised on very faulty assumptions that the country will have a good rainfall season and solid international commodity prices; his (Ncube’s) assumption is that we will have power (electricity) next year, which is all wrong assumptions and faulty.

We already know the challenges of power (electricity), the global challenge that almost all economies are in shrinkage. It’s a pipe dream.

In simple terms, this should have been a budget in USDs, he should have dollarised the budget, and he should have floated ZW$. Ncube should have reduced the interest rate from 200% to 20%.

Biti argued that Ncube should have removed export surrender requirements and the foreign currency auction system.

He also warned the VAT increase will cause price increases as the tax component is unprogressive and affects both the rich and poor. | NewZimbabwe.com