Zimbabwe: Finance minister projects better growth rate in 2017

Zimbabwe finance minister Patrick Chinamasa has presented the country’s 2017 budget before parliament.

The budget stands at about 4.1 billion dollars.

During the presentation the finance boss warned that measures should be taken to ensure that the issuing of treasury bills is not abused in efforts to solve the economic crisis after Zimbabwe’s budget deficit reached about 1.1 billion dollars this year.

“The fundamental challenge to our economy remains that of under production across all sectors of the economy,” the finance boss said.

Apart from under production, Zimbabwe’s economy has been crippled by low savings, high unemployment and cash challenges.

The finance minister added that a growth rate of 1,7% is expected in 2017 due to the anticipated better rents, recovery of some commodity prices and doing business reforms.