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Zimbabwe
Finance Minister allocates funds for 2013 polls
Sebastian
Mhofu, Voice of America
November 15, 2012
http://www.voanews.com/content/zimbabwe_finance_minister_allocates_funds_for_2013_polls/1546908.html
Zimbabwe's
cash-strapped government Thursday said it had set aside funding
for the constitutional referendum and 2013 elections. Presenting
the 2013 national budget,
Zimbabwe's finance minister said the elections must be peaceful
so the country's economic recovery remains on course.
Until Thursday,
Zimbabweans were not sure if their poor country could afford to
hold elections to end the country's almost four-year-old coalition
government.
Speaking to
parliament, Finance Minister Tendai Biti unveiled a 2013 budget
of $3.8 billion, including money for the referendum and polls. He
emphasized it is essential that the polls be peaceful.
"Those
of us who have covered the length and breath of this country are
well aware of the fatigue, despair and despondence that has afflicted
the majority our people of this country, many of whom fear next
year and the election," said Biti. "Mr. Speaker, 2013
can and should be the year in which we liquidate our cyclical politics
and convert the same into virtuous politics of inclusion. I personally
have hope, great hope."
Election,
economy connected
Biti said he
is hopeful Zimbabwe's economy will record five percent growth next
year, up from this year's four percent. He said that growth
hinged on a peaceful election and friendly polices.
Zimbabwe's economy
shrank for nearly a decade after 2000, when President Robert Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party began seizing white-owned farms, triggering a sharp
fall in agricultural production.
Zimbabwe has
enjoyed small but steady growth since 2009, when the ZANU-PF party
and the longtime opposition Movement for Democratic Change formed
a coalition government following disputed elections.
Past
violence
Those polls
were marred by a campaign of intimidation against MDC supporters,
including beatings, killings and torture.
The MDC has
said the 2013 polls must be preceded by passage of a new constitution
to ensure the elections are free and fair.
Biti, who is
an MDC member, said several factors are still affecting the economy,
including high wages for civil servants, non-remittance of diamond
revenues to the treasury, high debt and policies that discourage
foreign investment.
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