The national budget is now officially law, with a couple of key proposals getting axed along the way. President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed the Finance Act and the Appropriation Act, legally enacting the 2026 budget. The process saw Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube backtrack on two major points following pushback in parliament: a plan to double the gold royalty rate to ten percent was scrapped, keeping it at five, and a proposed tax on cash withdrawals was completely dropped after lawmakers said it would hurt workers and the formal economy.
Ncube did not back down on everything, however. He refused to dedicate sugar tax money solely for health spending, which was its original purpose, and he held firm on a small increase to the general sales tax, raising the VAT rate by half a percentage point. The new laws now authorize all government spending for the coming year and put the stated fiscal policies into full effect.
Ncube did not back down on everything, however. He refused to dedicate sugar tax money solely for health spending, which was its original purpose, and he held firm on a small increase to the general sales tax, raising the VAT rate by half a percentage point. The new laws now authorize all government spending for the coming year and put the stated fiscal policies into full effect.
