By Gift Mashoko
Zimbollar Research Institute, an independent source of Zimbabwe formal and informal economic and financial data has revealed that “Government Revenue has increased by 141% from $345million to $832million for January to December 2018, whilst expenditure decreased by 69% from $319million to $100million over the same period.
Zimbollar has cited Ministry of Finance and Economic Development as their source of information.
Zimbollar on its Twitter handle ZimBollar Research Institute @ZimBollar, posted, “Government Revenue increased 141% from $345million to $832million (January to December 2018), whilst expenditure decreased by 69% from $319m to $100million over the same period. Year over Year (YoY) from January 2018 to January 2019 revenue grew 47% from $345million to $508million whilst Expenditure grew by only 24%.”
They also noted that in 2018, expenditure was high but it normalised and gradually decreased with time and is still on a decreasing trend.
“Government Expenditure ballooned between May 2018 and August 2018 hitting the highest in July 2018 at $1.04billion. This is probably due to election related expenses. However, the trend normalised from September 2018 to date as it gradually decreased. For December and January 2019 Government had a net positive cash point of sale,” they twitted.
These statistics have received positive comments with some people commending Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube as managing Zimbabwe’s finances better.
The increase in revenue and decrease in expenditure by the Government can be attributed to the adaptation of the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP) and the 2019 budget whose theme was ‘Austerity for Prosperity’ which Minister Ncube said was also a message for Government to live within its means.
Government also introduced fiscal discipline to live within its means by restructuring the civil service and reducing government waste. Government also cut down on wages from Ministers up to the President. On the revenue front Government has improved tax collection with the 2% tax on financial transactions yielding good results.
