IN October 2018, the Government adopted the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP) as its working economic document setting the tone and pace of pursuing economic reforms as it moved to stabilise the country’s economy.
By Vincent Gono
The economic blueprint was given a two-year term and expires this month-end paving the way for the already launched National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1). This is a pointer to the step by step reconstruction of the national economy and a show of political will in achieving the country’s upper middle-income economy vision by 2030.
The TSP, was adopted in 2018 as a transformational economic blueprint that laid the economic route that Government was going to follow in the revival of the economy that had seen better days of international and domestic debt, lack of investment, battering, hyper-inflation and price distortions.
It is important to mention that before TSP, Government had been borrowing heavily, largely to sustain recurrent expenditure. Following failure to borrow from international markets due to debts which were not serviced, Government resorted to borrowing from the domestic market.
The danger was, however, that if the country had continued on the same borrowing path, efforts at long term growth and realisation of vision 2030 would have remained a pipe dream because Government’s actions were actively crowding-out private sector investment and destabilising the macro-economy.
TSP recognised that key to accessing new finance is resolution of the country’s external payment arrears to the World Bank, the African Development Bank, as well as to other lenders.
The TSP has therefore written a beautiful story in so far as its objectives are concerned and will be eulogised as the foundation stone upon which a solid economy is going to be erected through successive economic blueprints such as the NDS1 which has already been launched.
The successes of the TSP can never be buried with its term. It has managed to reduce the bloated civil service through retiring a number of those that were due. This reduced the civil service wage bill and improved efficiency as well as align the public service which was top heavy to a leaner and effective service.
It also corrected a number of abnormalities in the civil service where there were alleged ghost employees who were said to be getting paid from the tax payer’s money, while significant progress was made in the area of infrastructure development.
The programme spells out initiatives and programmes aimed at transforming the economy through prioritising fiscal consolidation, economic stabilisation, stimulation of growth and creation of employment.
In mining a US$4,2 billion Great Dyke Investments Platinum Mine is already under construction, while rehabilitation of rural and urban roads has taken off funded by Zinara and DDF.
The dualisation of the Harare-Beitbridge Road is also underway while student accommodation, innovation hubs and construction of 2 000 schools has started among major sectoral developments.
In agriculture, the land audit has been completed, farm downsizing and revival of irrigation schemes has taken off while construction of the Gwayi-Shangani and Marovanyati dams is expected to create a greenbelt and provide water to the communities.
The long and short of it is that TSP laid a massive economic reconstruction platform and stabilised the economy that had been fluid for a long period.
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Monica Mutsvangwa addressing the media fraternity in Gweru on Tuesday last week said the country had made significant strides in a laying a solid foundation towards achieving its Vision 2030 that would see the country becoming a middle-income economy through following the dictates of the TSP with detailed discipline.
She said this can only be achieved if there is no disjuncture between the Second Republic’s achievements and what the media delivers to the nation.
“Despite the Transitional Stabilisation Programme, (TSP) delivering on most of its set objectives, there is a glaring disjuncture between those achievements and what the media is delivering to the nation. Consequently, we now have a National Development Strategy. Meanwhile, the nation is not fully informed on the fundamentals that were realised by the foundational programme.
Wherein at some point, prophets of doom and our detractors were predicting an economic meltdown of great proportions, the TSP invested in development enabling infrastructural sectors such as roads, energy and ICT buttressed by a raft of measures including deliberately working on budget rationalisation, introduction of the Forex Auction System and an assortment of financial sector reforms.
The country has stabilised the economy by arresting the hitherto runaway inflation, stabilised prices and brought the much-needed macro-economic stability,” she said.
Minister Mutsvangwa said the country was still pursuing its “open for business” philosophy and implored the media to promote citizen participation to enable the nation to meaningfully and viably realise its developmental aspirations as enunciated in the NDS1.
“Colleagues in Government and the media industry, it is my conviction that if the nation is to meaningfully and viably realise its developmental aspirations as enunciated in the National Development Strategy, citizens, families, the corporate sector, local authorities, Government departments, other countries that we do business with as well as investors from within and abroad need to understand the course we have chart out in the NDS1.
“People need information to understand what NDS is all about so they can participate enthusiastically. The mantra chosen by the Second Republic, ‘Zimbabwe is open for business,’ needs to be made a reality by sharing information that advances the national agenda,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
She implored the media to report on the successes of Government programmes and offer constructive criticism where it is due.
“Zimbabwe cannot be seen as open for business if there is discord in the messages coming out of Government and our media houses as we will be sending wrong, mixed and confusing signals. The media has been called the Fourth Estate, this is more from the important role it has assumed in Statecraft and nation building,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
The TSP recognised that although the multi-currency arrangement adopted in 2009, provided the country with some form of stability for some time, it posed a number of challenges, mainly related to external trade imbalances, export competitiveness, cash shortages and lack of seigniorage, among others.
With the US dollar being the main functional currency of the economy, this meant that Zimbabwe was operating under a hard currency environment.
Such challenges exposed the financial services sector to vulnerabilities, hence, TSP recognised the need for currency reforms which brought the Zimbabwe dollar as a major currency.
Further, the multi-currency regime placed Zimbabwe at a weaker competitiveness position relative to its trading partners as shown by the decline in competitiveness.
Building on the successes of the TSP, the NDS1 outlines the policies, legal and institutional reforms and the programmes and projects that will be implemented over the five-year period, 2021-2025 to achieve accelerated, high, inclusive, broad-based and sustainable economic growth as well as socio-economic transformation and development.
In addition, it will focus on mainstreaming gender, youth, women, and on the economic stability already achieved.
Launching the economic blueprint at State House in Harare last month, the President said Government will continue implementing robust, innovative and responsive strategies with the NDS1 seeking to continue with the entrenchment of democracy, constitutionalism and rule of law. Cabinet would closely monitor actual results and take remedial action when anything slipped.
The President noted that success would need maximum effort by everybody in a united drive to develop “the Zimbabwe we want and need”. – Sunday Mail
