INTRODUCTION
1. Mr Speaker, I rise to present this year’s Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review, complying with Section 7 (2) (a) of the Public Finance Management Act.
2. This requires the Minister responsible for Finance to “provide full and transparent accounts, from time to time and not less than annually to Parliament, indicating the current and projected State of the Economy, the Public Resources of Zimbabwe and the Fiscal Policy of the Government.”
3. Mr Speaker Sir, the Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review allows us to take stock of developments during the first half of the year, and progress with implementation of the National Budget, a key instrument in the realisation of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation, Zim Asset.
4. Accordingly, the Review provides Honourable Members opportunity to consider necessary Budget interventions to re-align our fiscal policy thrust, informed by indications from the current and projected state of the economy, as well as anticipated public resources for the entire fiscal year.
5. The Review also gives progress on our on-going re-engagement process with the international financial community, including such international financial institutions as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the African Development Bank, as well as bilateral cooperating partners.
6. Mr Speaker Sir, this Review shall be complemented by the Monetary Policy Statement to be presented soon by the Governor of the Reserve Bank.
7. In undertaking the Review, I immensely benefited from the guidance and support I continue to receive from His Excellency the President, as well as the two Honourable Vice Presidents.
8. Mr Speaker Sir, it is only through such support that I am able to progress with the implementation of the measures I proposed to Parliament in the 2016 National Budget.
9. I also want to acknowledge the contributions of my colleague Cabinet Ministers, Honourable Members of Parliament, as well as those from the various Portfolio Committees, which all strengthen effective implementation of our economic policy interventions.
10. Invaluable inputs were also received from various stakeholders, inclusive of line Ministries and Government agencies, the private sector, labour, civic organisations, as well as from the various submissions received from individual citizens.
11. Mr Speaker Sir, allow me to start by recapping on the key parameters of the 2016 National Budget presented to this August House on 26 November 2015.
12. Thereafter, I will also give highlights of the economic developments during the first half of the year.
