Finance deputy Minister Terrence Mukupe has said some individuals who externalised money made frantic efforts to curry favour with the ruling Zanu PF by offering to donate to the party’s special congress held last week.
BY FIDELITY MHLANGA
President Emmerson Mnangagwa last month issued a three-month moratorium for those who externalised funds and assets to bring them back into the country or face prosecution, creating panic among those on the list.
“People who externalised money are known, as the President has said before. Some people were making phone calls to try and donate things to the party. But we said we are sufficient,” Mukupe said at an Opportunities For Investment meeting yesterday.
Early this month an adviser to government on the Ease of Doing Business, Ashok Chakravarti told a Special Policy Dialogue Forum that $5 billion could have been siphoned out of the country since dollarisation in 2009.
Announcing the 2016 Monetary Policy Statement, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya said $1,8 billion was externalised in 2015 alone.
Government, Mukupe said has an overdraft of about $1,5 billion, which has implications on business and the economy at large.
He said the issuance of Treasury Bills was unsustainable, adding that government was making corrective efforts to restore confidence in the market.
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“If we fix the confidence issue there will be more and more money coming into banks,” Mukupe said.
The Finance deputy minister added after noticing a gap in the enactment of policies and projects, the new administration has put in motion a 100 days cyclical performance assessment, in a bid to push for implementation of various economic projects.
“There is going to be a real time assessment of performance to say what we have achieved after every 100 days. This means there will a situation whereby after about every 100 days there will be assessment,” he said.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president, Divine Ndhlukula said businesses owed money by government and yet at the same time owing Zimbabwe Revenue Authority were advocating for set offs.
