By Patrick Guramatunhu- In Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube, Zimbabwe has Charles Dickens unsavoury Oliver Twist characters; Fagin, a conniving career criminal; Bill Sikes, a brutal professional burglar brought up in Fagin’s gang; Mr. Bumble, the pompous, self-important beadle; and last but not least Jack Dawkins, the Artful Dodger, the cleverest of Fagin’s pickpockets; all rolled into one. How else can one explain that in practice Zimbabwe’s economy is shrinking but in Finance Minister Ncube’s reports it is booming in giant leaps and bounds!
“For February and March, Treasury managed to collect revenue of ZW$3,895 billion and ZW$6,103 billion, respectively,” reported The Independent.
“In February, Treasury recorded a budget surplus of ZW$64,435 million while in March it incurred a deficit of ZW$910,498 million.”
I am not an economist, but one does not need a university degree in anything to know there is something dodgy here! In just one month treasury increased collected revenue from ZW$3,895 billion to ZW$6,103 billion an increase of 57%. Most people agree that Zimbabwe’s economy is in total economic meltdown. Increased government revenue would suggest the economy is growing. A growth of 10% is the norm and 20% maximum. Zimbabwe’s 57% must be a world record!
If government had a surplus of February, increased its revenue by a staggering 57% then how is it possible that instead of an increased budget surplus it recorded a deficit!
It is impossible to audit government books because the figures grow and shrink, appear out of nowhere and disappear into thin air, it is all hocus pocus! No wonder mismanagement and corruption are rampant. The country’s Auditor General’s reports have uncovered millions of dollars unaccounted for but this is only the ears of the hippo the rest of the animal has remained hidden in the muddy waters of hocus pocus figures.
“I can say for my own part that I cannot be ready to support the idea of budget support to Zimbabwe,” EU ambassador to Zimbabwe Timo Olkkonen said the other day.
“A new debt relief plan that has been given to a number of countries, where actually what is happening now is, there is a bit of a relief period of servicing debt has been granted to a number of countries,” explained the ambassador.
“And in Africa, so that they are not servicing their debts, that excludes Zimbabwe for the natural reason that Zimbabwe is not servicing its debts. So, you can’t have a moratorium on servicing debts when you are not servicing your debts in the first place.”
The EU, IMF, WB and most other national, international financial institutions and investors have stopped doing business with Zimbabwe because the country is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs. Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube, the financial guru of the regime is comparable to Charles Dickens’ Artful Dodger; you will be lucky to get away with all your fingers as for the watch, ring, purse, etc. they are gone! No wonder no one wants to do business in Zimbabwe!