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2020/21 Budget Not Considerate of Malawi's Economic Challenges - Ganda

Ganda: So many things have gone wrong because of the pandemic Ganda: So many things have gone wrong because of the pandemic file pictures

The Parliamentary Committee on Budget has admitted there is a need for members of Parliament to revisit some areas of the proposed 2020/21 budget saying there are some economic challenges that were not considered during its formulation.

The committee said this Thursday when OXFAM Malawi made a presentation of their analysis which among others, notes that even though there is continuity of some development programs, there is little allocation to development initiatives as compared to consumption.

It notes that a large proportion of the budget is going towards wages and salaries with only 25% going towards development initiatives that can help Malawi flourish in the long term.

OXFAM Country Director Lingalireni Mihowa nonetheless expressed satisfaction in how priority areas of Education, Health and Agriculture have received their allocations.

“We did the budget analysis to see how responsive it is in solving various inequalities in Malawi…Key findings are mixed in our view,” said Mihowa.

Despite agreeing to some key findings, Chairperson of the Budget Committee of Parliament Gladys Ganda is of the view the budget does not put into consideration some of the economic challenges the country is going through.

“They have mentioned that MRA will be able to collect projected revenue but we think this is unrealistic and cannot be achieved mainly because of COVID19. So many things have gone wrong because of the pandemic," she said.

Members of parliament have been holding cluster meetings to among others acquire more information from stakeholders on how the final budget can be in line with set development priorities.

 

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