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Cde Samuel Udenge

Golden Sibanda Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT will present the 2014 National Budget by end of next month in line with constitutional provisions that guide timelines for its presentation, Finance and Economic Development Deputy Minister Samuel Undenge has said.Dr Undenge said this during at an event organised by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency to officially mark distribution of the 2012 population census.  He said the ministry was in the midst of crafting the Budget.

Barring any major surprises, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa is most likely to present the 2014 National Budget next month. But Dr Undenge did not rule out the possibility it might come earlier than                                                                     that.

The deputy minister said the Ministry of Finance was well within stipulated constitutional provisions of time within which the Budget for an ensuing year is presented. Traditionally, the National Budget is in late November or early December.

But Treasury this year departed from tradition to allow for extensive consultations, which were delayed by the July 31 harmonised elections. Dr Undenge said consultations usually begin in either June or July.

“Elections to form a new Government were held on the 31st of July. The new Government was formed a month later and we entered office in September/October,” he said.

However, shifting from the traditional November or December timeline has caused anxiety within industry and among many stakeholders who view the departure from the traditional practice as indecisiveness on the part of Government.

A National Budget is such an important tool for planning to industry and commerce as it spells out Government policy, plans and activities and guidelines.

For instance, it stipulates thresholds for which workers do not have to be taxed and sets the applicable taxation rates for the forthcoming calendar year enabling companies to also craft their budgets in line with fiscal provisions.

Players in the economy also want to know and plan accurately around issues to do with value added tax, Pay As You Earn, excise duty and profit tax all which have some bearing on the level of pricing in the ensuing year.

Industry and commerce also needs to know Government revenue and expenditure plans in any country.

Globally, public expenditure on food, services and equipment is usually the biggest and this guides economic agents.

Dr Undenge said presentation of the revenue and expenditure estimate plan had not been delayed as the Constitution only requires that the Budget should be presented not later than the 31st of January of the year in which it applies.

“We are in the midst of crafting it. We will certainly comply with the constitutional requirement. We have not delayed the Budget; the constitutional provision is that it must be presented not later than January of that year.”

Dr Undenge said they only went into office in September this year and could have immediately crafted the National Budget without conducting extensive consultations.

“You do not walk into office today and write the Budget the next day. You need to consult everybody. Why we did not present it in November or December was because we came in after the traditional consultation period.”