When Zimbabwe’s finance minister Mthuli Ncube presented the national budget for 2023 to Parliament in November 2022, he placed high emphasis on a raft of initiatives designed to spur strong economic growth and unleash economic transformation. These included financing of infrastructure projects, education, health, value chains and other public investments.
At that time, Ncube’s budget plans ran the risk of being derailed by ultra-high interest rates which had led to a spike in the cost of borrowing for businesses and consumers.
