News / Regional
Biti hits out at Chinamasa's feja-feja economics
24 Sep 2014 at 09:48hrs | Views
Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti yesterday described Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa's mid-term fiscal policy statement as feja-feja economics because Chinamasa was spending money that the government did not have and was literally printing the United States dollar, the Insider reported.
In his contribution to the debate on the fiscal policy announced on 11 September said the assumption that one can eat what one could not kill was bad economics.
Biti said he did not just want to blame Chinamasa but also offer solutions of which he proposed four possible ways of dealing with issues.
Biti suggested that "We live within our means. Let us have macro-economic and micro-economic stability. He urged Chinamasa to stop borrowing beyond 'our means" and, at the very minimum, maintain both a current balance and a primary balance to the budget.
He also suggested that Chinamasa find money to put to the productive sectors.
"The economy is not producing so, let us produce, produce and produce and put money in manufacturing. Bulawayo, Harare, Mutare, Gweru and Masvingo are now ghost towns. Let us put money into industry," said Biti.
He also suggested that the Zimbabwe Accelerated Debt and Development Strategy (ZADDS) be concluded as a matter of urgency.
"Let us find a solution to liquidate Zimbabwe's debt crisis of US$8.8 billion. It is critical that we conclude successfully our discussions with the World Bank and IMF so that we can find access to the huge billions of funds that are sitting in H-road in Connecticut road in Washington D.C."
The land question also came under the spot light following the recent land invasion and the former FM said Zimbabwe should put a full stop to the land question.
In his contribution to the debate on the fiscal policy announced on 11 September said the assumption that one can eat what one could not kill was bad economics.
Biti said he did not just want to blame Chinamasa but also offer solutions of which he proposed four possible ways of dealing with issues.
Biti suggested that "We live within our means. Let us have macro-economic and micro-economic stability. He urged Chinamasa to stop borrowing beyond 'our means" and, at the very minimum, maintain both a current balance and a primary balance to the budget.
He also suggested that Chinamasa find money to put to the productive sectors.
"The economy is not producing so, let us produce, produce and produce and put money in manufacturing. Bulawayo, Harare, Mutare, Gweru and Masvingo are now ghost towns. Let us put money into industry," said Biti.
He also suggested that the Zimbabwe Accelerated Debt and Development Strategy (ZADDS) be concluded as a matter of urgency.
"Let us find a solution to liquidate Zimbabwe's debt crisis of US$8.8 billion. It is critical that we conclude successfully our discussions with the World Bank and IMF so that we can find access to the huge billions of funds that are sitting in H-road in Connecticut road in Washington D.C."
The land question also came under the spot light following the recent land invasion and the former FM said Zimbabwe should put a full stop to the land question.
Source - Insider
