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[QUOTE="Munyaradzi Mafaro, post: 77546, member: 636"]
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube told business people at a Bulawayo budget meeting that Zimbabwe is about to hit a golden era with single-digit inflation expected by early 2026 for the first time since 1997. The government dropped the ZiG currency back in April 2024, and inflation already fell from 95.8 percent down to around 19 percent by the end of last year. GDP growth averaged 5.6 percent under the National Development Strategy 1 program despite global chaos from COVID and commodity price swings.

Ncube said the 2026 budget still has room for tweaks before Parliament votes on it, since stakeholders are pushing back on things like gold royalties and electricity costs for the 24-hour economy push. The minister mentioned 42 percent of government revenue goes toward social programs like health and education, while business leaders want way more money allocated for manufacturing since neighboring countries are betting heavily on industrialization. The proposed VAT increase to 15.5 percent will skip 14 basic products that poor people buy.
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