Oliver Kazunga Senior Business Reporter
THE government is unable to fully finance different capital projects to steer economic growth as expected because of limited revenue inflows, chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Development, David Chapfika said yesterday.

He told Business Chronicle on the sidelines of a public hearing on the 2016 national budget in Bulawayo that the economy has not been performing well hence the failure to disburse enough funding for development projects as budgeted.

“The challenge obviously is that we’ve a small cake because the economy hasn’t been performing to the expectations of the people of Zimbabwe. And that impacts obviously negatively on the fiscal flow of resources towards government, for the government to be able to carry out its social responsibilities to finance in full; health, education and other social requirements for the people of Zimbabwe,” said Chapfika.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa has revised the economic growth target to 1,5 percent from the initial 3,2 percent citing sluggish growth.

The downward review has been attributed to the continued tight liquidity situation, lack of foreign direct investment inflows into the economy and the depressed capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector.

Chapfika said it was the government’s hope that the economic performance would improve driven by sectors such as agriculture, mining and the manufacturing sector.

“If the agriculture sector and mining begins to take off those are the issues that will impact on the growth of Zimbabwe. The economy is driven by its people. It’ll not grow on its own. It’s the attitude, commitment and determination of the people of Zimbabwe that will ensure that the economy turns around and it grows,” he said.

During the public meeting, participants urged the government to honour its allocations in the 2016 national budget.

“While we’ve had allocations in certain quasi-governmental organisations like the Zinara, it was gazetted that our allocation, for instance as the City of Bulawayo for this year, is $899,000,” acting town clerk Sikhangele Zhou said.

“But we’re in the last quarter now and the rains are about to start and obviously the roads are no longer workable and we’ve only had $460,000 disbursed…We think it’s not working well for us because the people (residents) have expectations. Can we stick to what we allocate.”

An official from Abameli Human Rights Lawyers said despite the small size of the cake there should be “reasonable” allocation to ministries.

Zimbabwe is signatory to the Abuja Declaration of 2001 and made commitment to dedicate 15 percent of its budget to health but has only managed eight to nine percent in 2013 and 2014.

An official from the Public Policy Research Institute of Zimbabwe said the upcoming national budget should respond to the Auditor-General’s Report where some cases of corruption have been noted in some public institutions.

Others called for the government to speed up the implementation of Special Economic Zones starting with Bulawayo considering that the city was the industrial hub of the country.

After the public hearing in Bulawayo, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Development proceeded to Tsholotsho for a similar consultative workshop.

Today, the committee would meet with Victoria Falls residents to gather their input for the 2016 national budget.

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