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By Joyce Mukucha
As the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube is set to present the 2022 National Budget today, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has appealed for a budget that realises the financial predicaments Zimbabweans are going through on a daily basis.
In a statement, the ZCTU Secretary General, Japhet Moyo said as a way of helping the country to come out of the woods of inflation caused by budgeting in Zimbabwean currency, there was need for the Minister to come up with with reasonable currency reforms and a budget denominated in United States dollars.
“The Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Honourable Mthuli Ncube will on Thursday 25 December 2021 present the 2022 National Budget and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union request a holistic pro-poot budget statement that recognises the hardships Zimbabweans are facing.
“The first point of call for the Minister is the need to come up with realistic and workable currency reforms and in particular a budget that is denominated in United States dollars. This will enable the country not only a stable currency of reference, but make it easy to budget in the current inflationary period. Budgeting in the local Zimbabwe dollar is like chasing a mirage,” said the Secretary General.
He highlighted that Zimbabweans are some of the unjustifiably high taxed people in the world as he reiterated the need to retain more money in the pockets of citizens which as a result contribute to economic development, stability and transformation.
“Workers in Zimbabwe expect a meaningful reduction of taxes and levies. It does not make sense to tax a worker who earns a wage that is way below the Poverty Datum Line. More money in the pockets of workers will stimulate aggregate demand and it is good for the growth of the economy.”
The union has also called upon the Minister to prioritize health for all when allocating funds and it stated that in line with the Abuja Declaration of 2001, 15 percent ought to be channelled towards health to deal with challenges including the global Covid-19 pandemic which has brought devastating effects to the nation.
“Enjoyment to the right of health is vital to all aspects of a person’s life and well-being and is critical to the realisation of many other fundamental human rights and freedoms. It is in this vein that the ZCTU is calling on the government to allocate 15% of the National Budget to health in line with the Abuja Declaration of 2001.This will also help in addressing pressing health issues, including the current Covid-19.”
Concerning education ZCTU said it was imperative for the Minister to maximize funds towards the sector.
“We also call upon the Government to increase funding for education to between four and six percent of the Gross Domestic Product as per the Dhaka Declaration.
“Moyo blamed Ncube for always announcing budget surpluses without deploying extra funds to sectors in needy especially those that have been affected by the lockdown for the past two years.
“For the past years, the Minister has been declaring budget surpluses. It does not make sense to claim budget surplus when there are areas that need funding. In particular, there must be a deliberate effort to give to pensioners and the elderly who are hard hit by poverty. Pensions have been seriously eroded by the decline in the value of the local currency and the ZCTU expects the Minister to address the plight of pensioners,” ZCTU underscored.
The Secretary General beamoaned the current power cuts that are affecting the industry highlighting that they have the potential to threaten job securities and appealed to the minister to make power a priority in the budget.
The ZCTU also underlined that it was expecting the minister to support ailing enterprises by creating a fund to revive them to stimulate job creation.
“As labour we expect the minister to provide mechanisms and funding towards infrastructure development and economic revival anchored on sustainable development.”
The budget, as labour, ZCTU, stressed, must address unemployment, deindustrialization and informalisation of the economy highlighting that the fiscal framework must guarantee the stabilization of the economy through policy proposals that are realistic and based on the factual findings.