Tapiwa Chirume
FINANCE minister Mthuli Ncube will headline the highly anticipated post mid-term budget review breakfast meeting that will be held in Harare on Wednesday.
The well-subscribed event, which is once again being hosted by the Daily News — the country’s most influential newspaper — brings together business leaders, economic experts, academics, senior government officials and ordinary citizens to engage with Ncube on key economic matters.
The Daily News’s general manager for Sales and Marketing, Priscilla Nyati-Matambo, said yesterday that the meeting at the Rainbow Towers had drawn huge interest.
“The mid-term budget and economic review presented by Professor Ncube has understandably elicited immense interest due to its profound implications for Zimbabwe’s economic trajectory.
“As the nation navigates the current complex, but overall positive economic landscape, businesses, investors, academics and ordinary citizens are keen to understand more and to contribute to the government’s policy direction — including on currency stability, fiscal discipline and growth strategies.
“We at the Daily News are happy that we continue to play our part in supporting these extremely important key engagements,” Nyati-Matambo said. Among the prominent panellists at the breakfast meeting will be the chief executives of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries and the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, Sekai Kuvarika and Christopher Mugaga respectively.
Others will include the chief executive of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe, William Mandisodza, the president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers, Denford Mutashu, and veteran economist Eddie Cross. Organised in partnership with the Ministry of Finance, the event is being supported by Econet Wireless and the People’s Own Savings Bank.
All this comes after authorities made very few changes to their current approach in last Thursday’s mid-term budget review, focusing instead on entrenching the ZiG, further stabilising prices and improving the lives of ordinary people. Presenting his mid-term statement in Parliament then, Ncube said the government would, however, intensify its efforts to strengthen social protection programmes — including support for vulnerable households.
Meanwhile, authorities have been urged to act quickly and decisively to leverage the country’s current relative economic stability and growing optimism into tangible benefits for both the poor and struggling businesses.