Zimbabwe announces austerity measures to spur stalling growth
Calling it ‘austerity for prosperity’, the finance minister is to cut the wages for the president, ministers and senior government officials by 5%
Zimbabwe’s finance minister Mthuli Ncube has revised the country’s economic growth downwards as a result of the runaway inflation, and announced a raft of austerity measures to jump-start the ailing economy. One key measure is the laying off of about 3,000 workers. He also revealed that the government had set aside an initial $53m to compensate white farmers whose land was grabbed by militant Zanu-PF supporters. In a budget he dubbed “austerity for prosperity”, Ncube cut the wages for the president, ministers and senior government officials by 5%, adding that the government will further reduce the size of its foreign embassies. Ncube said Zimbabwe will continue to use the multi-currency system, which is dominated by the dollar and the rand, with the greenback as the currency of reference at 1:1 with the surrogate bond notes local currency. Presenting the 2019 national budget on Thursday, Ncube conceded that runway inflation had pushed back Zimbabwe’s economic growth forecast from 4%...
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