Zimbabwe forecasts a $100 million budget deficit

TREASURY has projected a $100 million deficit on the 2013 budget after revising downward targeted collections for the year on poor revenue inflows in October and anticipated poor revenue inflows for the remaining two months of the year, state aligned media reported.

Figures from the Ministry of Finance show that projected inflows were marked down from $3,8 billion to $3,7 billion while inflows for November and December have also been reviewed downwards from $870 million to $702 million.

Addressing a pre-budget seminar in Victoria Falls last week, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the downward revision of targeted inflows was in line with the revision in economic growth and declining inflows.

"Interim revenue collections as at 29 October 2013 indicate that revenue underperformed during the month of October. Collections amounted to $248 million against a target of $328,8 million for the month," Minister Chinamasa said.

"Overall, the initial (national) budget revenue projection of $3,86 billion for the year has been revised downwards to $3,762 billion, resulting in a projected revenue shortfall (deficit) of about $98 million," the Finance Minister added.

A total of $2,790 million was collected during the nine months to September against a target of $2,714 billion resulting in a positive variance of $76 million.