'Zim revenue collection tumbles'

Revenue collection continues to tumble and there is need to urgently introduce a cocktail of measures to address the problem which is adversely impacting economic growth.

Principal Director in the Finance Ministry, Pfungwa Kunaka said Monday that during the first quarter of 2014 the economy has shown signs of slowing down, signifying inherent challenges.

He said notable indicators reflective of the slowdown included a decline in revenue collections during the first quarter which underperformed by 3.9% compared to the corresponding period in 2013.

Kunaka said credit risk remained a key challenge as evidenced by the Non-performing loans (NPL) ratio which increased to 16.63%as at 31 March 2014, up from 15.92% as at 31 December 2013.

He  suggested that it was critical for the country to establish a track record of loan repayments to China and other emerging markets in order keep these sources of funding flowing.