Government may miss economic targets

Zimbabwe may be unable to meet budgetary targets agreed with the International Monetary Fund as a condition for aid. Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa said in a statement on Thursday that: "It has become apparent that due to expenditure overruns the target budget deficit of 5.3 percent of gross domestic product of 1999 is unlikely to be achieved unless remedial measures are put in place," news reports said. Last month the IMF agreed to release US $193 million in tranches subject to Zimbabwe meeting agreed performance benchmarks including cutting a budget deficit which has averaged 10 percent of GDP in the past decade. The government also pledged to limit public service wage rises to 42 percent in 1999 and the cutting of 14,000 jobs from the 170,000-strong service.