Government, SOEs fees hikes precipitate major pain

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AUTHORITIES and business leaders agree that undue increases in government and state-owned enterprises’ (SOEs’) prices will stoke the country’s inflation.
This comes as a number of key government functions, SOEs and local authorities have recently hiked their tariffs and fees, hurting businesses and consumers.

Alarmed by this, economists have warned that inflation could spike this year, especially if the government also goes on a spending spree ahead of the 2023 national elections.
Interviewed by The Financial Gazette this week, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, John Mangudya, joined other economic experts in warning that high state-fixed tariff and fee prices would negatively impact the ongoing fine-tuning of the country’s foreign exchange auction market, while also spurring inflation.