Harare (New Ziana) – Government’s expenditure in the first four months of the year was 13 percent lower than the projected target of $20.7 billion, indicating a bold move to contain costs in the face of shrinking fiscal space, figures released show.

In the period, expenditure stood at $17.91 billion, giving a positive variance of $2.79 billion. This is part of Treasury’s plans to reduce spending to spare funding for developmental and productive projects.

In April, government expenditure amounted to $4.16 billion, against a target of $5.7 billion, translating to a reduction in spending of 19 percent on that originally projected.

But revenue for government in the same month fell to $3.81 billion from a projection of $4.31 billion, translating to a negative variance of $493.26 million.

Overall, however, revenue collections by the government surpassed target by five percent to $17.99 billion in the four month period, allowing Treasury to post a surplus of $86.07 million.

New Ziana