Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) Mugabe calls special cabinet session

Mugabe calls special cabinet session
13/06/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has called a special cabinet meeting for Thursday to deal with the economy. Cabinet sits every Tuesday, but ministers have requested a special session to discuss a document which Finance Minister Tendai Biti tried to table on Tuesday.

Thursday’s session will begin with Biti presenting the report on the state of the economy, according to Misheck Sibanda, the chief secretary to the President and Cabinet.

Biti warned last month that Zimbabwe was likely to miss this year’s economic growth targets owing to revenue shortfalls and rising domestic debt.

The minister said: "We are facing a number of downward risks, which are threatening our macro-economic projections.

"The key reason is simply that we have not been able to meet our revenue targets and the key cause is non-performance of our diamond revenue.”

Biti had projected that the economy would this year expand 9,4 percent, driven largely by mining, agriculture and tourism.

In the first quarter to March, the government collected US$771,1 million against a target of US$869,7 million.

Revenue collected from diamonds was US$30,4 million against a target of US$122,5 million.

Biti said the government had become "a major destabiliser" of the economy, as domestic debt had ballooned to US$300 million.

Cabinet is also expected to tackle the shortage of change – a major problem since Zimbabwe decided in 2009 to use foreign currencies in place of the valueless local currency.

Ministers will also discuss instability in the banking sector and the indigenisation programme as it relates to efforts to sustain the nascent economic recovery.

Labels: MISHECK SIBANDA, ROBERT MUGABE, TENDAI BITI

posted by MrK @ 4:42 PM