In a survey conducted by The Zimbabwean, more than half of people interviewed believe the government’s US$30million travel expenditure for the first six months of 2011 was too high, and even more think the money should be spent at home instead.
However, the government has urged people not to see overseas trips as wasted money.
Biti on Wednesday lamented high budget overruns on foreign travel, saying government officials blew nearly US$30 million on foreign travel in the first six months of this year alone.
"Can you imagine how many children that money could assist under BEAM?" said Mai Chido, a street vendor in Harare.
Foreign travel disease
Biti said foreign travel remained unsustainably high, relative to other critical services.
"Foreign travel remains high compared to other items such as education, health, water and sanitation," Biti said. "We have spent over US$30million on foreign travel and I have made an appeal to the leadership of government to deal viciously and boldly with this disease called foreign travel."
Figures show that Mugabe's trips blew US$20million, more than US$5million above his annual US$15m travel budget. Mugabe has flown to Singapore six times in the first six months for a follow-up health check on what is touted as cataract surgery. Mugabe draws US$3million for every trip.
The Prime Minister and his two deputies have used US$3.7 million. They have an annual allocation of US$5million. At US$30 million, foreign travel represents 0.4 percent of GDP. And relative to other critical expenditure areas, this is unacceptably high, Biti said.
Biti said the Treasury would move to enforce tougher restrictions on the government’s travel budget after it emerged ministers were spending more on foreign trips than the government did on healthcare for civil service.
An MDC-M deputy said: "It is worth reminding everyone that this is the people's money being spent."
Critics say the numbers are too high at a time when Zimbabwe's economy is struggling and when Civil Service heads have been ordered to cut all non-essential foreign travel. The foreign travel budget is an affront to the US$250 paid to most civil servants, critics say.
Tax-payer friendly
When Biti rose to announce the budget review, he supported the weight of the expectations of 12m people. The general consensus is that the budget is tax-payer friendly.
Although he steered clear of announcing a supplementary budget, the Finance Minister has projected a GDP growth rate of up to 9 per cent for the fiscal 2011 anchored on agriculture and mining, but lamented the widening fiscal deficit projected to race to US$700m by year end.
Many interviewed said the mid term review signalled growth and stability, although there was disappointment over the fact that education loans promised last year hadn’t been availed and a general discontentment regarding the fact that the government hadn’t taken any decisive steps toward corruption and worsening poverty.
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