ZCTU Wants A Realistic 2022 National Budget
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) secretary-general, Japhet Moyo has called on Finance and Economic Development Minister, Mthuli Ncube to be realistic and allocate more resources towards welfare expenditure in the 2022 national budget.
Ncube presents the 2022 national budget this Thursday afternoon in Parliament.
Speaking to NewZimbabwe.com yesterday, Moyo said Ncube should deliver a US dollar-denominated budget as this will make it easy to budget in the current inflationary environment. Said Moyo:
Apart from this, workers in Zimbabwe expect a meaningful reduction in taxes and levies.
Zimbabweans are some of the unjustifiably highly taxed people in the world and there is a need to retain more money in the pockets of citizens by reducing taxes.
It does not make sense to tax a worker who earns a wage that is way below the Poverty Datum Line (PDL).
More money in the pockets of workers will stimulate aggregate demand and is good for the growth of the economy.
The ZCTU top official urged Ncube to allocate 15% of the national budget to health in line with the Abuja Declaration of 2001.
He also called upon the government to increase funding for the education ministry to between 4% and 6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as per the Dhaka Declaration.
Moyo slammed Ncube for declaring budget surpluses in four successive years but at the same time failed to use the extra funds to cater for the welfare of pensioners and the elderly.
