Govt budget overrun sours to $900 million

The government had a budget overrun of a whopping $902,2 million by the end of 2016 on the back of huge employment costs and agriculture recovery that were largely unplanned for in the annual budget.

Presenting his 2016 Annual Budget Review, and 2017 Economic Outlook yesterday, Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said the employment costs remained the major component of 2016 budget expenditure.

“The major driver behind the overall $902,2 million budget overrun were expenditure interventions in support of recovery of agriculture. In this regard, such expenditures totalled $615 million, an over-

This story is for NewsDay subscribers.