daglous masveta
THE 2025 National Budget will take into consideration the needs of vulnerable groups in society, including children and people with disability, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, has said.
Speaking on the sidelines of Parliament’s Pre-National Budget Seminar in Bulawayo last week, Prof Ncube noted submissions by different stakeholders and assured the nation that their input will be taken into consideration.
The four-day workshop ran from last Wednesday under the theme, “Building Resilience for Sustainable Economic Transformation”.
The gathering served as a crucial platform for lawmakers to engage with industry experts and stakeholders to forge actionable plans aimed at aligning with the nation’s economic recovery goals.
Prof Ncube said presentations from various committees were constructive, and that these will help to build resilience in the economy.
“You will see us having a budget that will be responsive to the needs of children, women, youths, people with disabilities and rural people,” he said.
“It will be a budget that will be sensitive to those needs. It’s important because these are vulnerable groups and having a budget that responds to these issues will ensure that it is a budget that builds resilience, which is the core theme for this seminar.”
Prof Ncube added that the expectations from different committees are high with the nation only able to generate 18 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in terms of revenues.
As such, the Finance Minister said everyone has to fit in within 18 percent, taking into consideration the needs of the vulnerable, with little borrowing to cover up some of the gaps.
“Treasury will do its very best to be sensitive to all these demands from everyone, it has been a wonderful constructive debate, the discussions have been constructive and I am very pleased with what I’m hearing from Members of Parliament,” said Prof Ncube.
He said the ministry is already working on meeting the international budget standards, which include the Abuja Declaration that speaks on allocating 15 percent of the National Budget to healthcare, the Maputo Declaration on 10 percent of the budget going to the agriculture sector and the Dakar Declaration of 20 percent being channelled to education.
Under the Second Republic, Zimbabwe has done better in meeting some of the international targets such as the Maputo Declaration on 10 percent of the budget going to the agriculture sector.
Prof Ncube said the health sector has been getting assistance from different development partners, especially on issues to do with vaccination of children and HIV and AIDS response programmes.
But he said that with time, such organisations will reduce their assistance, which will see the Government funding more of the national health needs, with the coming in of the sugar tax going to assist in raising funds.
Prof Ncube’s remarks come at a time when stakeholders have pressed Government to reduce passport fees from US$170 to a maximum of US$100, trim radio licences, toll gate fees and the customs duty regime for basic goods such as clothing, shoes and washing powders to an average of 10 percent.
The recommendations were tabled during the 2025 Budget public consultations presented at the recent pre-budget seminar in Bulawayo.
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion, Cde Clemence Chiduwa, said from consultations, the public strongly suggested the 2025 National Budget should support the less privileged.
On Government revenues, Cde Chiduwa said there were calls for “downward revision of passport fees from the current US$170 to a maximum of US$100, the radio license fee to at least US$10 per quarter and toll gate fees from US$4 to US$2 for small vehicles.”
The new e-passport was introduced in December 2021 with prices in US dollars, with an ordinary passport costing US$150 and an emergency one fetching US$250.
There is an additional fee of US$20 to obtain a quick response (QR) code for a e-readable passport.
Lithuanian company, Garsu Pasaulis, partnered with the Government to introduce the e-passport under a build, own, operate and transfer basis.
The project has helped to address the historic backlog issue in issuing passports and brought increased efficiency.
The intervention has also brought efficiency in the issuance of travel documents and has tackled historic backlog issues.
Radio listeners’ licence fees were last gazetted in 2021 under Statutory Instrument 264 of 2021, Broadcasting (Listener’s Licences) (Amendment) Regulations, 2021, No 4.
Cde Chiduwa said several stakeholders have linked smuggling to the general level of customs duty with the argument being that relatively high rates of duty are punitive hence induce smuggling.
“The proposal is to review the customs duty regime for basic goods such as clothing, shoes, and washing powders to an average of 10 percent,” he said.
On social protection, Cde Chiduwa said the public felt there was a need to strengthen existing social safety nets by increasing funding for programmes that support low-income families.
“The pensioners proposed that Government should consider raising the pension allowances to a level above the poverty datum line and increase the allocation for sanitary wear for the girl child at schools,” he said.
Treasury has also been urged to consider introducing old age allowances for those who are over 65 years so that they lead decent lives.
On Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM), Cde Chiduwa said there was a view that funds should be disbursed on time according to the opening day of school calendar, as well as expanding the reach of BEAM.
“The public recommended that the administration of the BEAM fund should be placed under the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education for better management.”
Turning to public service, Cde Chiduwa said there is a strong call for the 2025 national budget to review the salaries of all civil servants in line with prevailing macro-economic conditions.
The public proposed that the Government should offer retention allowances to reduce the brain drain in public service, as well as paying the local authority councillors through the Salary Service Bureau.
“The public further recommended Government to reduce the civil servants’ rebate of duty on importation of motor vehicles from 10 years to at least two years of service (and) the need to unfreeze some critical vacant posts to ensure effective service delivery, particularly for nurses, doctors and teachers in rural areas,” said Cde Chiduwa.
