Three Decades of Public Expenditure Management in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Sound public expenditure management forms the bedrock of public administration. It facilitates prudence, efficiency, transparency and accountability in expenditure processes at various levels of government. This serves as a long term barricade against debt trap. This article responds to these fundamental concerns by examining the nature, processes and challenges of public expenditure management in Zimbabwe. Reviews of expenditure management systems in Zimbabwe show general consistence with those in Anglophone Africa. Ministries of finance, working closely with spending ministries, Accounting Officers, Public Accounts Committees of Parliament, Auditor Generals and internal auditors-constitute key players in the public expenditure management process. Notwithstanding this, overall expenditure over the decades remained sticky downwards due to inflationary pressures, unbudgeted expenditures and weak expenditure management systems. Robust measures should be put to institutionalize a culture of compliance with extant expenditure management frameworks at both the macro and micro levels of government.

The Impact of Economics and Financial Literacy in How People Perceive the Effectiveness of the Fiscal Policy of Zimbabwe: Case Study of Harare

“…A wide range of reforms have been conducted and are still ongoing to try and build institutions which guarantee the efficient management of public finances. A review of these reforms is available in Zhou (2012).…”