Mid-term budget review on this week

Debra Matabvu

FINANCE, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube will this week present the Mid-Term Budget and Economic Review covering the first half of the year.

He will, however, not table a supplementary budget. The review will highlight economic performance and budget implementation.

It will also show the adjustments needed to meet this year’s budget and National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) objectives.

Prof Ncube told The Sunday Mail that the budget review will focus on the economy’s performance since January.

“I will be presenting the Mid-Term Budget and Economic Review probably at the end of this month,” he said.

“This will highlight how the economy has performed over the past six months. There, however, will be no supplementary budget because we have enough funds for everything that we need to do.”

A mid-term budget and economic review is an assessment conducted halfway through a country’s fiscal year.

It serves to review how the national budget is performing compared to initial projections.

This includes analysing revenue collection and expenditure on various programmes.

It also assesses the overall health of the economy, looking at factors like gross domestic product growth, inflation rates, unemployment levels and external factors like global commodity prices.

Based on the evaluation, the Government may adjust its budget by revising revenue or expenditure estimates to reflect changing economic realities. In addition, the review can also help identify areas where economic policies may need tweaking, such as changes in tax rates, interest rates or social spending programmes to address emerging economic challenges.

Treasury recently called for public input into the Mid-Term Budget and Economic Review, as well as the 2025 Budget Strategy Paper.

“Treasury has commenced formulation of the 2024 Mid-Term Budget and Economic Review and the 2025 Budget Strategy Paper, in line with the prescribed budget process calendar as outlined through SI (Statutory Instrument) 135 of 2019 (Public Finance Management (General) Regulations 2019) and SI 127A of 2021 (Public Finance Management (General) (Amendment) Regulations, 2021 (No. 1)),” a statement from the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion said in part.

“In this regard, Treasury is requesting for input into the 2024 Mid-Term Budget and Economic Review, highlighting details on economic developments during the first half of the year, progress on implementation of the 2024 National Budget and any necessary adjustments to our interventions required to meet the budget and NDS1 objectives up to the end of the year.”

This year’s review is likely to see the Government redirecting resources towards drought expenditure in the wake of last summer’s El Niño-induced drought.

Prof Ncube said the Government was set to receive a report from the United Nations (UN) on the US$429,3 million Zimbabwe Drought Flash Appeal meant to assist more than three million people who are food-insecure due to drought. President Mnangagwa has since declared the drought a State of Disaster and launched a domestic and international appeal of U$2 billion to respond and help build the country’s resilience in the face of increasing climate-induced disasters.

“These pledges are done through the UN platform,” said Prof Ncube.

“We are yet to receive a report to see how well that (the appeal) is going. Also, what happens is that some partners respond on a bilateral level . . . so, they decide as a government to give so much to Zimbabwe to support a specific kind of programme. So, some of them will respond through the UN platform while some will do so bilaterally.”