By Rungano Dzikira

Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube has said the era of austerity measures was coming to an end and the country should embrace for better economic fortunes in 2020.

Commenting on the economic reforms that the country has since undergone, Professor Ncube assured that the temporary stringent had served their purpose as they had managed to maintain the country afloat; hence 2020 forging forward would see the economy adopting a positive economic trajectory, anticipated at more than 4.6% growth.

“We have done prosperity and it has served us well, it has created a good base and allowed us to do a lot of reforms, which have been painful. Now we are ready for the next stage which is to stimulate growth,” he said.

Prof Ncube highlighted that the upcoming 2020 national budget would capture much of Government’s intended initiatives in its quest to consolidate the projected growth.

“The economy is expected to register a growth of plus 4.6% in 2020, from a negative 3 to 6 % this year.

“We want to make sure that we give incentives for production and to accord easier access to credit from the private sector across all the sectors,” added Prof Ncube.

The country is moving from 2019 ‘austerity to prosperity’ theme which the Minister of Finance says has managed to liberalise the foreign exchange market, fiscal consolidation, monetary policy restoration, re-engagement and other governance and structural reforms. It has also aided in improving the country’s business environment and supportive productive sectors.