A Consolidated Financial Statement from the Accountant General’s Department for the month reflects that government forked out $5,454,423on foreign travel -nearly double the budget allocation of $2,480,000.
Domestic travel expenditure went $645,485.41 over budget to $1,732,485. The statements provide a summary of government’s financial resources and their application for the benefit of the people of Zimbabwe.
In his mid-year fiscal review this year, Finance Minister Tendai Biti announced a number of austerity measures to keep government’s travel expenses in check. He said expenditure on foreign travel remained disproportionate to what was spend on essential services such as health, education, social protection, infrastructure development and support for agriculture.
In 2011, President Robert Mugabe overshot his travel budget by 133 percent in the first half of the year – gobbling $5 million more than his annual travel allocation of $15 million. In the same year, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai spent only $3,7 million – 64 percent of the $5 million annual budget allocated to his office.
The latest statement also shows that mining royalties fell some half a million dollars short of government’s expectations – $11,243,911 received against the budgeted amount of $11,700, 000. Earnings from the tobacco levy were also half a million dollars short – with $871,000 budgeted and receipts of only $203,533.
On medical supplies and services, the government forked out $1,157,935.39 – slightly above the budget of $977,000. It overspent substantially on maintenance – $44,469,867 against a budget of $3,467,000.
Post published in: News