Nico Asset forecasts better budget implementation
Implementation of the 2017/18 National Budget is expected to be better than the previous fiscal year buoyed by resumption of budgetary support and expected higher domestic revenue, an investment advisory firm has said.
The World Bank has resumed budget support while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has just completed the country’s review on the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and disbursed about K20 billion.
In its mid-year economic review, Nico Asset Managers noted that fiscal deficit is also expected to decline during the 2017/18 financial year to 3.9 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) from a likely outturn of 4.1 percent of GDP in the 2016/17 financial year.
Reads the report in part: “The new proposed tax measures and improvement in revenue collection by the Malawi Revenue Authority [MRA] is expected to lead to higher domestic revenues during the 2017/18 financial year.”
When presenting the 2017/18 National Budget, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe said strong fiscal and monetary policies reinforced by the IMF supported programme, have sustained economic recovery which is continuing into 2017 and is expected to gather strength in 2018.
“This expected favourable environment, if sustained, will augur well for public and private sector capital investments and could provide the linchpin of robust growth,” he said.
