Expanded Cabinet puts budget under stress

President Robert Mugabe further strained Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa delicate $4.1 billion 2015 National Budget when he last week appointed two new Vice Presidents and created two new ministries that had not been forced in the budget presented to Parliament last month, economists have said.

Mugabe last Friday unveiled an expanded Cabinet including an Economic Planning ministry headed by demoted party chairman Simon Khaya Moyo and the War Veteran Welfare ministry led by Christopher Mutsvangwa.

The two ministries will also need office space, office equipment and human resources that include principal directors.

A government economist who declined to be named said the decision will further worsen the hamorrhaging economy and in this scenario when politics clashes with the economy, politics unfortunately always wins.