Mthuli Ncube says Zimbabweans should be patient- “we will get there”

Zimbabwe Finance Minister today urged Zimbabweans to be patient as the country’s economic reform is on track but normally there is an 18-month lag in response to economic policy.

He told the South African Broadcasting Corporation at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town that all the austerity measures that Zimbabwe has been implementing to reform the country will be completed by the end of this year.

From next year onwards Zimbabwe will be focussing on productivity and job creation but Zimbabweans have to understand that there is an 18-month lag in terms of economic response to economic policy.

“So citizens should be patient. We are on a reform agenda. The economy is in a transition. We will get there,” he said.

Zimbabwe has been on a downward spiral since October last year when Ncube announced the austerity measures.

Inflation which was below 5 percent for almost a decade had reached 176 percent before the government decided to suspended publication of figures saying the figures were distorted because the country had adopted a new currency.

The local currency mainly in the form of bond notes and the RTGS dollar was at par with the United States dollar until February but it is now pegged at about 11:1 though the bond note is below 9:1.

Salaries of most workers have therefore been reduced to a tenth of what they were a year ago as they have not been adjusted in line with the exchange rate which most workers are pressing for.

Government doctors are currently on strike demanding a salary of 400 percent.  They were offered 60 percent which they rejected.

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