Zimbabwe 2017 Budget Highlights

Zimbabwe Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa has painted an ugly outlook saying the struggling  economy is projected to grow by 1.7% next year.

He said the biggest challenge is under production across all sector.
Recovery rate has been 0.6% for 2016. Growth rate for 2017 is estimated to be 1.7%” he said during his 2017 national budget presentation.

The budget comes few days after President Mugabe’s thin  state of the nation address that did  little to address the main issues affecting the country.

Here is a summary of today’s  budget for 2017

  1. The 2017 National Budget proposes an allocation of US$1.35 billion towards health, social welfare and education Ministries under the Social Services and Poverty Eradication cluster.
  2. Social safety nets have been allocated US$78 million in order to cushion the vulnerable groups of our population in terms of health, education and social welfare programmes.
  3.  Given the centrality of agriculture in terms of food security and support to other sectors, an allocation of US$303.2 million is being proposed under this Budget.
  4. With regards to the Infrastructure and Utility cluster, the 2017 Budget sets aside US$188 million, which will be complemented by resources from statutory funds, respective state owned enterprises, development
    partners and loan financing.
  5. Estimates of Expenditure and the proposed Vote Appropriations for the 2017 Budget are highlighted in Annexure 7.

More details follow…