KEY POINTS

• Transport ministry overspends 116 percent of its annual allocation by June.
  
• The Office of the President and Cabinet spent 81 percent of its budget by midyear.
  
• Key public services like health and education struggle with underfunding.

The Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) and the Ministry of Transport were the worst offenders when it came to spending too much money by the middle of the year.

The 2025 Mid-Term Budget Review, which was provided by Finance Minister Prof. Mthuli Ncube, states that the OPC had used up 81 percent of its yearly budget by June. On the other hand, the Ministry of Transport had already spent 116 percent of its full-year budget before the middle of the year.

Early expenditure is critical for both the president and transportation

The Ministry of Transport has spent too much money on big projects like the Bulawayo–Victoria Falls Road and the Trabablas Interchange in Harare. The President’s Office also has a lot of work to perform. A lot of its money goes to the Central Intelligence Organization, buying cars, and programs that help veterans become more independent.

These two groups had a large impact on the government’s spending in the middle of the year, which was ZIG98 billion, or 35 percent of the national budget.

People still don’t give enough money to public services

On the other hand, basic public services aren’t spending enough. The Ministry of Health and Child Care only spent 25 percent of its ZIG27.8 billion budget. Primary and secondary education, higher education, and social welfare used only 31 percent and 24 percent of their budgets, respectively These data have made people wonder how money is prioritized, since some vital regions are missing.

The government continues to face a tight budget due to debt servicing, spending ZIG2.5 billion on interest payments, which accounts for 45 percent of the anticipated amount. Pension payments have also cost a lot, with ZIG9.4 billion, or 45 percent of the annual budget, already spent.

Opposition raising the alarm about spending that isn’t fair

Discent Bajila, a member of the opposition, has criticized the government’s spending priorities, stating that they are putting too much money into infrastructure and politics and not enough into critical services like health and education.  Bajila said “Health and education are always told to wait until the third or fourth quarter of the year,”. This illustrates how unfair the budget is.

Minister Ncube, on the other hand, justified how the government handles money by saying that the budget is being carried out “within approved levels,” even though there are clear discrepancies within departments.