Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti has criticized the 2025 National Budget presented by Mthuli Ncube on Thursday, describing it as shallow, dishonest, and out of touch with the needs of the people.
In a post on X, Biti said that the budget reflects the incompetence and corruption of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration.
He further criticized the proposed tax measures, claiming they show a lack of empathy and disproportionately target vulnerable sectors.
Biti also argued that the budget fails to address the pressing issue of critical energy shortages. He wrote:
The 2024 Budget Statement was presented in the backdrop of a tough and challenging year for the working people of Zimbabwe.
A year in which the citizen had been abused by extreme levels of inflation, emasculation by a rigged exchange rate, extortionate taxes, power shortages, poverty, and the aftermath of a scorching drought.
Naively, the citizen and businesses thus hoped for a BOLD, HONEST DECISIVE & TECHNICALLY SOUND budget that would address the crippling challenges of the day and offer hope & catharsis to a broken fatalistic desperate and disparate population.
Regrettably, Minister Ncube’s budget was nothing but a shallow, hollow, narcissistic, dishonest anti-people ritual.
The Budget correctly bluetooths everything cataleptic about the Mnangwagwa regime: incompetence, ideologically vacuous, corrupt, insensitive, vicious and toxic.
Seven issues amplify the fatality of Mthuli’s project. First is the clear failure to calibrate the Budget in US$. In a volatile high inflation environment expressing the Budget in a local currency ravaged by serious inflation pressures is clearly a faux pas.
Zim has gone through six bouts of currency failures and any budget expressed in a local currency is a facade. A volatile ZIG also creates accounting chaos for businesses. Ultimately, a ZIG-based budget is simply a means to hide and mislead the true depth of economic mismanagement
Second Mr Ncube’s microeconomic framework and projections are simply unsound and blatantly dishonest. A 2 % GDP growth for 2024 is simply overstated.
It underestimates the ZIG-induced depression that has captured markets since 5 April 2024. A period that has seen many companies close or downsize.
There has been a massive curtailment of revenue inflows in companies and in the government itself. Aggregate demand simply collapsed resulting in Government revenues also collapsing to the point that at the present moment regime has no capacity to pay wages.
The budget projection of a 6 % growth in 2025 is dross. It is based on 3 assumptions viz decent rainfall, low inflation and a stable currency, and a tight fiscal and monetary policy. Expecting this government to live within its means and to keep a tight fiscal ship is madness.
The regime must monetize its rent-seeking projects particularly the feeding trough that road construction has become.
Particularly command agriculture and multiple Presidential schemes. Once the boys are paid broad money shoots through the roof. Inflation spikes and the ZIG falls.
Third, the 2025 budget framework is unsound and must be rejected by Parliament. In 2024 ZIG110,722 billion in revenue will be collected against projected expenditure of ZIG 119.972 resulting in a deficit of ZIG 9.3 billion. (they don’t sing about surpluses anymore).
In 2025 projected revenue jumps to ZIG 276.4 billion or US$ 7.5 billion. Whilst expenditure is ZIG 276.3 billion or US$7,668 billion.
On a growth of 6%, it eludes one’s wisdom how revenue will grow by 150% from ZIG110 billion in 2024 to ZIG 276 billion.
Put in another way, Mr Ncube expects 2024 revenues of ZIG 110 billion or US 3.05 billion to jump to US$7,5 billion.
This mendacity reflects disrespect for Zimbabwean intellect. More than that reflects total and utter contempt of Parliament. But the real issue is where will.
Mr Ncube extracted US$7,5 billion when companies have been squeezed dry and closing down retrenching or relocating.
Fourth the regime proposed revenue measures are narcissistic and lack empathy. Imposing taxes on betting income, on Pizza and chicken inn is ridiculous.
Targeting informal traders in spare parts dealers, groceries, hardware, lodgers, fabric merchandisers and boutiques for taxation is cruel and ridiculous.
The regime suffers from the warped view that it can extract money from stone. The pathological obsession with taxation is sickening
There is a crisis of under-accumulation in Zimbabwe. Companies are shutting down and unemployment is on the rise.
The 2025 Budget had a duty to create a stimulus and to provide incentives for consumption & production to jump-start the economy.
Taxes had to be reduced various stimuli provided. Instead, a vacuous bankrupt government went the opposite of what logic dictated.
Sixth there had to be a push for currency reform. ZIG has failed and failed in absolute terms. The epicentre of the Zim crises is exchange rate mismanagement.
Finally, given the current structural energy crises the Budget ought to have addressed the power situation. Indeed it is ridiculous to imagine the economy will grow by 6% without power. No wonder and very poignantly ZESA went off during the Budget presentation.
Truth is, this is the worst government in the history of governments and the 2025 Budget is a further exhibit of this fact.
More: Pindula News