Brian Rungano Temba
Former Bulawayo South Parliamentarian and founding member of the MDC Eddie Cross has expressed disappointment in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for failing to give credit to President Emmerson Mnangagwa credit for the his work.
Cross, who until recently was part of the Reserve Bank`s Monetary Policy said the multilateral institution is ignoring progress made in the country.
During an Interview with BizNews Radio, Cross said that IMF has ignored the radical growth that has come through the policies that the second republic has put in place.
“Communicating what the Second Republic under President Mnangagwa have done is critical and I am deeply critical of the IMF who have facts on the ground and know exactly whats going on here.
They get information from our system every day and they known damn well what is happening here and see the results but have given President Mnangagwa absolutely no credit for it,” said Cross.
The veteran economist said that when President Mnagagwa came into power in August 2018 he faced an impossible task but has managed to steer the ship to steady waters.
“Inflation was out of control, it would rise to 800 percent per anum and government was spending 40 cents in dollar.
They were borrowing 40 cents in every dollar that they spent creating a huge fiscal deficit of 40 percent.
Our pararastatals were on the verge of collapsing and we were subject to huge shortages in electricity,” said Cross.
Cross tipped his hat to President Mnangagwa for being able to discern that there was need to assign technocrats outside of the political realm in order to get the country running again.
He particularly gave praise to the appointment of Minister of Finance and Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube.
“One of the key things in politics is the ability to choose the right people for the right jobs.
President Mnangagwa chose six out of 20 ministers completely outside of the political realm,” said Cross.
He said that within five days of becoming minister, Hon Prof Ncube published the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP) which most people thought was going to fail judging on the blueprints by government of the past.
“We did not read it because we had seen it all for the past 41 years, but the man stuck to his guns and implemented the plan. Today, some two and a half years later we find ourselves with inflation down by 2 percent per month and it is dropping rapidly,” added Cross.
Cross mentioned that Zimbabwe now has no fiscal deficit and it is running a substantial fiscal surplus.
Salaries that were 96 percent of government expenditure in 2018 are now less than 40 percent, which he said was a massive achievement.
“On top of that we have a balance of payment surplus, for the first time in our history.
We have had stable exchange rates for the past nine months,” said Cross.
“The political pain of that decision alone has been enormous,” he added.
The economic growth has incensed those who wish the country ill and they have resorted to desperate methods.
Cross said, “In the last three years we have had five abductions and four of which we believe were staged by civic society to get the attention of the media.”
Regardless of the lengths Zimbabwean government went to stabilise the economy, foreign embassies and private media paint a negative picture the Second Republic, while informed entities like the IMF fold their hands.
Cross hailed the reconciliatory path being pursued by the second republic.
According to him, there are about 1200 active young white farmers.
“These are the grandchildren of farmers who were shut down by the late former president Robert Mugabe.
On top of that we have a third generation of white industrialists who have come into their family businesses and they are making a huge difference.
Some of them include Graham Richards form the N. Richards Group and Graham Halsteds,” said Cross praising government for ensuring that the second republic works for Zimbabweans in their diversity.
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