Harare, Zimbabwe (News of the South)-The country is set for another hyper-inflationary period due to the recent budget presented by Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa which is hinged on no practical plan to extricate the country from its present economic malaise.
According to People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Tendai Biti the budget is set to create a deficit which will result in the random printing of money, a phenomenon which the country has passed through before, with painful results.
“The ambitious unfunded $4.1 billion budget will create a deficit that will be monetized through the Bond note. The printing press is back”.
“With 91% of total expenditure going towards the wage bill , the economy is a prisoner of ZANU ghost workers”.
“Reform starts with #ZanuGhosts”, he said.
Biti accused the whole budget of being premised to fail.
“The Bond Budget is meeting its ambition of expanding the frontiers of failure. A surreal piece of incompetence”.
Asked what the fundamental problem is the former Finance Minister pointed the finger at ZANU PF.
“Fundamental problem is broken down confidence and lack of trust. Period. Fundamental problem is ZANU”, he charged.
Vince Musewe, an economist, also echoed Biti’s sentiments.
“Zimbabwe development narrative cannot be led by government”.
“Private sector must be at the fore front. We will change that narrative post 2018. We must unite”.
“Budget 2016 (was) $4bn budget 2017 (is still) $4.1bn (that) reflects how static things are. Negative growth 2016 negative growth 2017. We are going nowhere fast”.
“Government must stop being at centre of economic revival (since they) have no idea what needs to be done. Private sector in agriculture and mining must take lead”, he said.
Biti has been propounding a democratic developmental model which is set to be part of his address to day.
This is a variation of the developmental state, or hard state, a term used by international political economy scholars to refer to the phenomenon of state-led macroeconomic planning in East Asia in the late twentieth century.
According to Wikipedia this model of capitalism (sometimes referred to as state development capitalism), the state has more independent, or autonomous, political power, as well as more control over the economy.
A developmental state is characterized by having strong state intervention, as well as extensive regulation and planning.
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