Chinamasa had threatened to cause the deportation of the team.
Biti was speaking soon after presenting the First Quarter Treasury State of the Economy Report for March 2013 to the media in Harare yesterday.
“I understanding they are returning to the United States but they are coming and they will meet among others the Finance Minister, the Justice Minister, the Prime Minister and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
“We could not agree on civic society. Our hope is that the mission can come as a matter of urgency. It would be tragic if they can’t come.
Failure to fund the election would compromise its quality and raiding the economy for funds would have severe consequences,” he said.
“It is self-evident that Treasury does not have the capacity to fund elections. The international community must come to our assistance,” Biti said.
The visit by the assessment team would pave way for the UN to provide funds for the elections. Biti said the budget for the election stands at $132 million but he was working on bringing it down.
Zimbabwe has also approached South Africa, Angola and Sadc to seek funding for the elections and at the same time working to improve the collection of revenue from diamonds, with the first, according to Biti, having already authorised a $100 million loan sought some time back.
Presenting the report, Biti said the 16 March constitutional referendum had cost $53 million.
“We raised $40 million through treasury bills issued for NSSA and Old Mutual. $20 million went to allowances and per diems and at the same time $11,5 million is still outstanding,” he said.
“The necessary provisions to meet the $40 million maturities related to the issuance of these treasury bills will be made as part of the 2014 Budget,” Biti added.
He bemoaned the underperformance of the diamond sector.
“If there was any honesty in the diamond we would not be asking for election money right now,” he said. Biti revealed that the budget was facing a number of pressures.
The civil service wage bill, at $155.3 million, accounted for 75.4 percent of total recurrent expenditures as at 22 March 2013.
“The under-performance of our revenue, against the background of high employment costs, some critical external loan repayment obligations, the referendum, elections, and the unbudgeted for new requirements in support of grain importation all pose major pressures on the budget.
“Given the constrained fiscal space, the involvement of the private sector in the importation of grain is unavoidable. Hence, it is paramount that Government continues to encourage the current on-going private sector initiatives in the importation of grain,’ he said.
On the revenue side Biti said by 28 March 2013, collections were $241 million against the monthly target of $301 million, which entails raising $60 million within the last days of the month in order to meet the monthly target.
The economy is also likely to suffer further strain as the gap between exports and imports continues to widen.
“During the first half of March exports stood at $294 million, while cumulative imports since January stood at $1 739 billion. This translates into a trade gap of more than US$1 billion within the first quarter of 2013,” he said.
Biti also revealed that he would be meeting with the South African Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, “in the coming days” in Washington on the release of the $100 million budget support to be made available to Harare by Pretoria.
On infrastructure he revealed that the Manyame Bridge along the Harare-Norton highway is now complete, while the highway dualisation was ongoing.
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