Call For Increased Investment in Artificial Intelligence

By Shingirai vambe

BULAWAYO-Finance and Investment Promotion Minister Prof Mthuli Ncube has called for Parliamentary support for a new budget line dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.

He made the appeal during the ongoing five-day 2026 Pre-Budget Seminar being held in Bulawayo.

The minister plea came at time the country has recorded a massive improvement in digital access and internet use, with data consumption rising sharply from 27 petabytes in 2018 to 403 petabytes in 2025.

The 2026 pre-budget seminar brought together parliamentarians, government officials, and economic stakeholders to discuss fiscal priorities ahead of the presentation of the 2026 National Budget later this month.

“The country`s rapid digital transformation and strong performance are clear signs of resilient economy.

“In the digital economy, we have seen massive improvement in access to internet data. When you look back at where we were in 2018 just 27 petabytes. It`s amazing. Now we are at 403. That is a sharp increase in internet access and usage,” said Prof Ncube.

The minister said government’s newly launched AI strategy would be a key driver of innovation and productivity, particularly through partnerships with institutions such as the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) and the Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA).

“Our AI strategy, launched a few weeks ago, will go a long way in supporting this sector. I hope you will support me when I propose a budget line to fund the high-performance computing facility at the University of Zimbabwe.

“If you have not visited that facility, please do. You will be amazed at the capacity that has been built as a foundation for AI preparedness.

“The young people there are coding, programming, and doing incredible work they don’t sleep, they just drink Coca-Cola and build solutions,” the minister said.

Ncube said the facility was already contributing to improved weather forecasting, biometric systems, and other government services.

Turning to macroeconomic indicators, the minister highlighted that exports had more than doubled in recent years from US$4.7 billion in 2018 to about US$10 billion in 2025.

He further said diaspora remittances have surged from below US$1 billion in 2019 to US$2.7 billion this year.

“We are not a small economy anymore. Our exports are growing, our remittances are strong, and our current account is in surplus.

“We now expect to close the year with a US$1.3 billion current account surplus, showing that our external position is an asset, not a threat,” said the minister.

On public debt, Ncube said the country`s total debt now stands at US$22.6 billion, of which US$14 billion is external, adding that the debt-to-Gross Domestic Product(GDP) ratio had declined from 70 percent to 43 percent, owing to an expanding economy.

“It’s never good to have so much debt, but because our GDP has grown to about US$52.3 billion, the debt-to-GDP ratio has improved significantly. The challenge now is addressing arrears and liquidity constraints,” Ncube explained.

The minister also told delegates that government was making “steady progress” under the Structured Dialogue Platform on debt clearance and economic reforms, with the facilitation of former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano.

He also highlighted reform milestones achieved under the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), including abolition of the death penalty, land tenure and farmer compensation progress, and introduction of the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency.

“People tend to forget that Parliament abolished the death penalty, that is a major reform and economically, being able to introduce a new currency and keep it stable is no small achievement, “Ncube said.