World Bank addresses Zimbabwe's fiscal imbalances

Fiscal imbalances combined with a large volume of domestic debt are at the core of Zimbabwe’s ongoing cash shortages, the World Bank has noted. A report on the Fin24 site notes that it said the central government’s fiscal cash deficit moved to 10% of GDP in 2016, up from 2.3% the previous year. 'The decision in 2016 to increase agriculture-related spending despite the decline in revenue and the continued growth of the wage bill substantially widened the fiscal deficit.The government’s fiscal position expanded by some 8 percentage points of GDP,' it added. The IMF earlier this month criticised the Zimbabwean government’s plans to issue $600m worth of treasury bills to clear debts owed to the country’s sole electricity supplier, Zesa Holdings.