(NEWZIMBABWE) Donors let us down: Biti

Donors let us down: Biti
by Business Reporter
25/10/2010 00:00:00

FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti has said government received “very little” of the US$800 million it had hoped to get come from donors in the 2009/10 fiscal year. Formation of the coalition government had led to expectations of increased donor support for the country which is battling to recover from a decade-long decline.

The optimism saw treasury officials making a vote of credit provision of US$800 million in the 2009/10 budget, about a third of the country’s overall expenditure for the year.

However Biti conceded during a budget preparation meeting in Gweru that the provision had been “wishful thinking”.

“We wished donors would give us that money but that was a wish list, the money never came.

“Now we have seriously learnt hard lessons. If anyone suggests that a third of the budget should be from donors, I will not do that,” Biti said.

The minister said he would not be making provision for donor funding in the next budget.

“If money came from donors, then Father Christmas, hallelujah, thank you! But putting it in the budget, I am not going to do that. Putting a significant amount on the Vote of Credit, I am not going to do that,” Biti said.

Donors have held onto their purse-string insisting the coalition partners must do more to implement agreed political reforms.

Meanwhile Biti also urged wage restraint among the government’s workers saying the civil service wage bill was unsustainable.

“About 70 percent of our total budget is going to wages, a situation which is not sustainable.

“Economists say only 30 percent should go to wages. There is therefore a need for us to balance increasing civil servants salaries and capital,” he said.

[Tendai Biti is talking about 'Normative Economics'. - MrK]

The Finance Ministry is currently holding consultations on the next budget which has already come under pressure following indications by the coalition partners that a constitutional referendum and general elections must be held by June.