Mthuli Ncube finally addresses Parliament on the State of the economy

Then finally as the last point Mr. President, is the Transitional Stabilisation Programme.  Notice that what I have done in presenting on the state of the economy, I have just focused on the broader macro.  There are very critical issues and drivers of this economy which is in micro part such as agriculture.  What we are going to be doing in terms of agriculture is all in the TSP – how to enhance Command Agriculture, making sure that more finances are available from the banking sector.  We have been speaking to them- how to resolve the payment to the farmers which is still unresolved as per the Constitution.  Again, all of that is in the TSP.  Our support for the mining sector in terms of beneficiation, in terms of coming up with a simple but credible and effective fiscal regime for the mining sector, reflecting on the retention ratios for instance when it comes to foreign currency, all of that is in there.

We focus on the construction sector.  All the sectors are included such as the tourism sector which is a low hanging fruit.  The multiply effect in the tourism sector is three times.  You bring one tourist here, for every dollar they spend, the multiply effect is three times within the economy. So, this is low hanging fruit and we are determined to support that sector as well.  The list is long, but of course, we have not forgotten the environment of doing business, the institutional reforms that we spoke about earlier when I was answering questions – all of this is in the TSP.

Mr. President, at the back of the document, we have a table as to the projects and programmes that we will undertake during the first two years up to year 2020 and then building on to the next five year plan and then the last five year plan to take us to 2030.  We have a schedule, we have a time table, we have the actors and these will be monitored using the results measuring framework that we have all signed up to as Ministers.

To conclude and take my seat, I will give a further presentation on the state of the economy next week when we discuss the road map for the budget in Bulawayo, but also when I give the budget on 22nd November.  Thank you, Mr. President.

(1630 VIEWS)