HON. HWENDE: On a point of order! The Hon. Minister is not answering the question.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order! Do not take the position of the Chair. It is only the Chair who can say that. Allow the Hon. Minister to finish and then ask supplementary questions – [HON. CHIBAYA: Inaudible interjection.] – Hon. Chibaya, do not tempt me to send you outside again.
HON. PROF. M. NCUBE: On the macro economy, we have seen an effective use of both our currencies, the USD and the ZWL as the main currencies but we are accepting other currencies of course. Both of those main currencies are necessary for us to manage the economy. We have deployed 3, 2 billion USD to our manufacturing sector and we have seen the capacity utilisation levels increased to the highest levels we have seen in many years.
Looking into the mining sector, we have a pillar, since I was asked whether the NDS1 started; there is a pillar on natural resources management. Again, we have seen a robust performance within the mining sector in terms of new investments and we have also been very pleased to see robust resilient prices in the international market. So, our earnings for the mining sector remain strong especially in the PGM sector and the gold sector.
We have not been so lucky when it comes to managing some of the international forces, the spill overs from the geo-political situation resulting in inflation, high fuel crisis which we have some control but not full control but we have done our best as Government to manage the upward increase in fuel prices. So, we have done a lot.
Now, I will address the issue of civil servants, I heard mention of civil servants in the question. We remain seized with the matter; we are always responsive to civil servants needs. This year alone we managed to retain the 75 USD per person for the COVID-19 risk allowance then we added a 100 USD in addition to that in April. Now, we are seized with yet another review of salaries and we are listening carefully to the requests of civil servants, we are on to it and again in the next few weeks we will deal that. We will not only cover civil servants, we also cover Members of this House, and everyone is included. We will make sure that we improve the income levels for everyone so they can afford some of these prices that we have seen in the market which has been hiked by some unscrupulous individuals. I thank you.
HON. CHIKWINYA: I think the Minister did not understand my question. I did not ask about NDS 1, I referred to it and I pointed out all the shortcomings such as civil servants meager salaries. There are no medicines in hospitals and there are a lot of problems.
The Hon. Minister is talking about pillars but the pillars he is talking about do not refer or translate to people’s earnings, which issue is supposed to be addressed. So, I am saying NDS 1 has failed, therefore, what are we going to do?
THE HON. SPEAKER: The Hon. Member is contradicting himself. One moment he wants to stress one area where there is a problem, next point he will say the NDS 1 has failed. So, it is either you stick to one point and not delve into the whole issue of the NDS.
HON. CHIKWINYA: Thank you Mr. Speaker. In the rural areas where we come from, the civil servants are earning money that can only afford a dozen of bread. There are no medicines in the hospitals, people are suffering. What is the Government doing to ensure that they alleviate the suffering that people are going through?
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