The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance, George Guvamatanga, reportedly questioned in a meeting of Heads of Ministries, why the government subsidizes beer in Zimbabwe.
The information was provided by Nick Managwana, the Information Ministry perm sec through his Twitter account.
Guvamatanga, who is also the former Barclays Zimbabwe managing director, apparently called for unpopular decisions to be made by the government.
Said Guvamatanga:
“Do you know that we subsidise beer? Why do we subsidise such things as beer & cakes. Politically unpopular decisions have to be made”
Mangwana reiterated on his Twitter that these are not direct subsidies for Delta Beverages’ products but procurement subsidies for ingredients used in the production of beer products.
More: Nick Mangwana on Twitter
Delta was given bank 1 to 1 money to import raw materials. That’s not a subsidy, but instead is an example of what all local manufacturers were promised by the RBZ Governor. 1 to 1 forex from the bank.