Zimbabwe plans to cut its budget deficit by half next year to four per cent of GDP, the national Treasury has said. In an election year Mugabe’s government is unlikely to reduce spending, economic analysts said, making it difficult to cut the deficit to four per cent of gross domestic product. A Treasury document seen by Reuters on Tuesday said the Treasury “will focus on containment of the budget deficit as one of the key fiscal anchors”. “In the absence of strong measures targeted at containing expenditures and enhancing revenues, further deterioration of the budget deficit is likely to be sustained beyond 2018,” it said. Zimbabwe is struggling to pay for imports due to the dollar crunch, which has also caused acute cash shortages.

Source: The Star October 18, 2017 13:52 UTC