Bulawayo, (New Ziana) – The Minister of Finance, Prof. Mthuli Ncube said on Saturday he will stick to the draft 2027 national budget of ZiG347 billion, representing a massive haircut to the combined ministerial funding demand of over ZIG1 trillion.
“We know we have a budget envelope. We know we have to live within it. And of course Ministers would ask for more. Why not?” he told journalists after a parliamentary pre-budget seminar in Bulawayo.
He presents next year’s national budget later this month.
Prof. Ncube said there was little room in the draft budget to accommodate the huge ministerial requests without upsetting the macro-economic fundamentals of the country, and therefore ‘we eat what we kill.’
He said containing budgetary expenditure was particularly prudent in the face of the expected adverse effects of El Nino and global supply shocks caused by wars in the Middle East, and Ukraine.
“Everybody has asked for more money, including staff in my own ministry. They too didn’t want to be left behind from those who are asking for more money. Look we cannot naturally accommodate anything beyond the 347 billion ZiG that the economy will allow in terms of our current capacity, our revenue raising capacity,” Prof. Ncube said.
“So while everybody’s asked for more money, we cannot reach the one trillion ZiG that they’re asking for. So there will be a haircut everywhere for everyone to fit into the 347 billion ZiG that we’re projecting,” he said.
On concerns raised by parliamentarians that his Ministry overly delayed disbursements of funds to ministries and other beneficiaries, Prof Ncube said this was because of the cash budgeting system in place, which allows only money in the pot at any given time to be released, without resorting to borrowing.
“You know we use a cash budgeting system. We eat what we kill. We live within our means,” he said.
He said government had put in place an effective cash management committee to forecast cash flows one to two weeks in advance and align that with budget releases.
New Ziana
