HON. DR. MASHAKADA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. In recent weeks, in our economy we have witnessed sharp increases in prices and one such commodity is cooking oil. You know that nobody can do without cooking oil. It affects everybody across the board. In the rural areas, like in Hon. Chinotimba’s Constituency, people are buying this for $12 to $ 13 up to $15. These are the prices which we are concerned of and as legislators, we must say let us address inflation and control hyperinflation.
Mr. Speaker Sir, what is happening is that, because there is arbitrage between the US$ and the bond note, some unscrupulous dealers are buying commodities from our shelves and selling them in neighbouring countries to get foreign currency. They come back with the foreign currency and buy bond notes from the black market and go to the shops again to hoard commodities to sell outside and obtain foreign currency. That is why there is a crippling shortage in our economy.
The other problem that is pushing prices is the three-tier pricing system. In this country, there are prices for RTGS transactions, bond note, ecocash and the US$ which is causing market distortions. Where a product is priced using a three tier system, there is bound to be arbitrage and some people benefit from such. We have raised this problem time in and time out, why can we not have one particular price of our products in the shops? This is something which this Parliament should enforce.
Mr. Speaker Sir, the rate of unemployment is very worrying to me and to most of us. Economists put that figure at 95%, that is formal employment those people on the labour market seeking active employment. That is worrying and most of our graduates are selling air time or selling fuel at the service stations. Unemployment rate of 95% is something that we have to tackle. As I said, I am just running through the economic dashboard and then I will proffer solutions or alternatives.
Mr. Speaker Sir, our national debt – I did not know that it had jumped from $11 billion to 16.9 billion over a period of 12 months, what we owe to the outside world. Juxtapose that against our GDP, which is officially pegged at $15 billion. Now, if our debt is $16.9 billion and our GDP is $15 billion, where are we going as a country? It means we are mortgaging our future generations and our children.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I am worried about the budget deficit. When he was the Minister of Finance, he was popular by his adage…
THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, when the Hon. Member…
HON. DR. MASHAKADA: When the Hon. Member for Harare East, Dr. Tendai Biti was the Minister of Finance, he used to say, ‘let us eat what we kill.’ When he departed, the budget deficit was $275 million, just under 300 million.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Are you sure he departed or he is still alive: – [Laughter.] –
HON. DR. MASHAKADA: I am talking about the position, he left the public accounts books with a deficit of $300 million and now we are sitting on $2.2 billion. Out of a national budget of $4 billion, we have created a hole of $2.2 billion. To me, that is worrisome. Mr. Speaker Sir, unbeknown to us and to Parliament – by the way, you told us that Parliament has got powers, we must have teeth, how is it that the Government borrowed from the Reserve Bank to the tune of $2.3 billion as at August, 2018 yet the RBZ Act provides that the Government can only borrow amounts equal to 20% of the previous revenue and 20% of the previous revenue will equate to $762.8 million? However, the Government borrowed $2.3 billion from the Reserve Bank without the authority of this House or seeking condonation or coming back to this House for a supplementary budget. I urge you to censure the Executive on that note as head of this institution – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – Mr. Speaker Sir…
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