Inflation To Drop To Less Than 100% In 2023 Says Mthuli
Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube has predicted that inflation will drop to less than 100% next year following measures that have been put in place by the government to stabilise the economy.
The country’s annual consumer price inflation climbed further to 285% in August of 2022, from 256.9% in the prior month.
Addressing journalists on Monday in Harare, Ncube also said Zimbabwe’s gross domestic product (GDP) will grow by 5.5%. He said:
Next year we will have removed the froth in the economy. We expect growth to edge up again towards 5.5%. Year-on-year inflation next year will drop to less than 100%.
We can give you specific figures as we move towards year-end because we keep fine-tuning them.
In fact, when I present the 2023 budget in November I should be able to say something about our targeted inflation for 2023 in full.
He said economic growth will be driven by the mining and agricultural sectors.
Ncube said the government will continue to pay suppliers that meet the value for money criteria adding that in the last six weeks, the government paid $184 billion to the suppliers. He said:
These payments have been made to various players in the market, so it is not a fact that the government is not paying for goods and services.
As we move to implement the value-for-money process, we are committed to honouring all our obligations provided that they are priced correctly in the public interest, and such payments will not adversely impact the exchange rate and cause inflation.
Ncube said corruption had resulted in the rapid erosion of budgeted resources, which made it necessary to come up with a supplementary budget presented in July this year. | NewsDay
