By Rungano Dzikira

A budget surplus of ZWL$1.769 billion for the month of December 2019 afforded Government fiscal space for higher than projected payments for medical supplies amongst other attendant costs for treasury, the latest Consolidated Statement of Financial Performance (CSFP) of the Consolidated Revenue Fund shows.

Treasury says the positive variance was mainly used for medical supplies, foreign travels, rentals and other service charges, maintenance and institutional provisions.

According to the CSFP figures,a total revenue collection for the month of December 2019 amounted to ZWL$5.183 billion against a target of ZWL$3.414 billion resulting in a positive variance of RTGS $1.769 bln (52%).

“The positive performance was mainly recorded on taxes of goods and services which contributed ZWL$2.185 billion against a budget of ZWL$1.465 billion.

“Taxes on income contributed ZWL$2.174 billion against a budget of ZWL$1.236 billion, Intermediary Money Transfer Tax (IMTT) contributed ZWL$503 million against a budget of zwl$389 million,” read part of the statement.

However, non-tax revenue recorded a negative variance of ZWL$102.2 million (72%) and much of the variance is on government fees, fines and licences where collections were below target.

Total expenditure for the month of December 2019 amounted to ZWL$4.241 billion against a target of ZWL$2.874 billion resulting in variance of ZWL$1.367 billion (48%).

Expenditure outlay on employment costs for the month of December 2019 amounted to ZWL$672.5 billion against a target of ZWL$575.9 billion giving a variance of ZWL$ 96.6 million (17%).

“Expenditure on goods and services amounted to ZWL$1.209 billion against a target of ZWL$487.1 million giving a variance of ZWL$721.6 million. The variance is mainly a result of  higher than projected payments mainly for medical supplies, foreign travels, rentals and other service charges, maintenance and institutional provisions,” further read the statement.

Capital expenditure for the month of December amounted to ZWL$1.817 billion against a target ZWL$1.360 billion giving a variance of ZWL$457 million. The variance was  mainly as a result of the devolution funds transferred to local authorities, capital transfers to GMBs for strategic grain reserves and purchase of farming inputs for the coming 2019-2020 cropping season.

For the period under review, the budget incurred a surplus of ZWL$984.2 million against a targeted surplus of ZWL$540.9 million.