Business Reporter
THE National Consumer Rights Association (NCRA) has castigated Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube following recent claims that the country’s economy is on the mend.
The treasury boss made the remarks while addressing delegates at a conference held in Bulawayo last week.
He claimed that the Southern Africa nation has recorded a positive rate of growth consistently for three years in a row, 8,5% gross domestic product growth in 2021, 6,5% in 2022 and this year we are expecting to achieve 6%.
Ncube said the inflation outcry by most citizens in the country was largely a result of past hyperinflationary experiences.
“How many times have we heard about speculation that shelves would be empty, I have never seen such full shelves since 1980? Eighty percent of the goods are locally made, I cannot remember a time when 80% of goods were locally made. Why do we have a parallel market?
“So you have no reason to worry, speculate about the currency because you have an option to use many currencies that are there. I do not know of any country that is allowed to do that, you have a choice so do not complain about that choice,” he said.
Ncube said the Treasury is no longer using the central bank as a cash box, five years in a row; fundamentals have been put in place adding that if it is not to do with just speculative behavior, civil servants and companies have found an easy way of making money.
But NCRA spokesperson Effie Ncube shot back at Ncube’s bragging describing the touted economic progress as textbook growth far divorced from people’s lived realities.
“Despite the promises of economic revival that the government has been making, millions of Zimbabweans are still languishing in worsening unemployment, poverty and hunger. For many, the situation is hopeless and degrading. Government should come down to where real people live and not talk about fictional and non-existent economic growth,” Ncube said.
