Zimbabwe's Public Finances Healthy, Says Ncube
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said the country’s public finances are sound and consistent with the 2021 Budget objectives and targets.
Presenting the 2022 national budget statement in Parliament on Thursday afternoon, Ncube said revenue collections during the first nine months to September 2021 amounted to ZW$317.4 billion against a projection of
ZW$291.5 billion.
This resulted in a positive variance of ZW$25.8 billion (8.9%), with revenue collections now expected to reach ZW$495.01 billion (16.6% of GDP) by 31 December 2021.
Ncube revealed that the total expenditures for the first nine months of 2021 amounted to ZWL$351.7 billion against a target of ZWL$305.3 billion, resulting in an expenditure overrun of ZWL$46.3 billion (15.2%).
He said the projected expenditure to year-end amounts to ZWL$509 billion (17% of GDP), mainly on account of COVID-19 related expenditures, increased outlays on grain procurement, as well as other development expenditures.
As a result, the budget deficit for the first 9 months stood at ZWL$32.8 billion and is now expected to end the year at ZWL$14 billion (0.5% of GDP), said Ncube.
