By Blessing Vava (Regional Director) The month of November saw the Zimbabwean government presenting its 2021 national budget and also the launching of the country’s National Development Strategy (NDS1), outlining the country's five-year economic plans. NDS1 replaces the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP), launched in 2018 to run for two years. What is intriguing is that the two documents are anchored on free-market /neoliberal economic policies which will continue to

By Bernard Mpofu Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube last month presented a ZW$421.6 billion 2021 National Budget a few weeks before the country’s mid-term economic plan—the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (2018-20) came to an end. Ordinarily, after taking stock of the blueprint, Ncube would have gone back to the drawing board to ensure that he manages expectations for ensuing economic plans. This makes the 2021 budget the first of five national budgets underpinning the Nation

By Sharon Mupfure Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, since his appointment two years ago, has never been a friend of the poor. In his latest budget statement, he makes it clear that nothing has changed. One of his first decisions as minister was to introduce a truly repressive tax of 2% on every electronic transaction. It burnt the pockets of the poor the hardest. Over the next two years, Ncube convinced the government to let go of safety nets, which those who are anti-poor like

By Takura Zhangazha There is an increasing ambiguity when influential Zimbabweans debate their current government’s macro-economic policies. This is probably because they do not have structured differences with its neoliberal/free-market/ease of doing business thrust. Ordinary Zimbabweans are not so ambiguous in their own debates and discussions. From general observation, they remain highly sceptical due to issues such as allegations of corruption or their own political bia

By Happiness Zengeni ECONOMIC GROWTH EXPECTATIONS On the 26th of November 2020, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development of Zimbabwe presented the 2021 National Budget Statement. A major highlight in the statement was that the Zimbabwe economy has experienced sustained recessions in 2019 and 2020, with GDP estimated to have contracted by -6% and -4.1%, respectively. According to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, the economic contraction has been a resu