This coming Thursday Mthuli Ncube is expected to present his 2020 budget before Parliament. A lot of people and businesses are hoping for miracles and dramatic changes that will put the economy on track. Well if we are one of those people who is yearning for something good, we are here to tell you to temper your expectations.

Our friends at Pindula have parsed an article by the Herald on what to expect and have come up with 9 things you can expect from our Finance Minister. We have expanded on those helpfully adding our sarcastic points to each one of those.

  1. He is expected to maintain the 2% Intermediated Money Transfer Tax. That sucks, most people, us included think the IMT tax is a misguided money grab that continues to undermine our efforts to adopt electronic currency in the country.
  2. Production goals are expected to be given priority. Whatever the heck that means don’t expect fireworks. Same old prioritisation of big formal businesses with SMEs and informal entities completely ignored.
  3. Fiscal discipline will be maintained with the 2020 Budget, adjustable upwards by 30% to cope with inflation. Yeah right, we will believe it when we see it happen on the ground not on some paper.
  4. The minister is expected to ensure that he maintains his primary Budget surpluses and restricts Government borrowing to the capital account. Our gluttonous government has however continued to sell Treasury Bills.
  5. The Budget is expected to announce measures that promote industry, mining and agriculture. Command agriculture expect more millions to disappear and defaulters not paying up.
  6. The Budget will not announce any measures that will shock the market, but those that seek to grow industrial capacity and safety nets to cater for the vulnerable.
  7. Measures to address high transport costs will continue, with more Zupco buses set to arrive from South Africa, Belarus and China, while more kombis will be co-opted into the mass urban transportation strategy. ZUPCO provides relief but it has been a money-pit for decades.
  8. Subsidies for public transport are to continue to be budgeted and tied to appropriate tax revenue.
  9. The 2020 Budget is expected to contain measures that ensure the objectives of Transitional Stabilisation Programme. Don’t even know what that means.

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