Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Simplex Chithyola Banda will present the 2025-26 National Budget in Parliament on February 28, Speaker of Parliament Catherine Gotani Hara has announced.
The Speaker said this in Parliament in Lilongwe yesterday before Leader of Opposition in Parliament George Chaponda and others started responding to the State of the Nation Address (Sona) President Lazarus Chakwera delivered on Friday.
She said: “On Friday, February 28 2025, the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs will present the 2025/26 National Budget, and the cluster meetings on the budget will be concluded on March 14 2025.”
Gotani Hara further said that after presenting the budget statement, members of Parliament (MPs) will deliberate on it in the following weeks before the minister makes a budget winding up statement on March 25 2025.
The budget meeting comes at a time the K6.04 trillion 2024-25 National Budget is expected to expire on March 31 2025.
Budget analysts have said the effectiveness of the financial plan was affected by revenue challenges and a high budget deficit which resulted in the trimming of the development budget at mid-year review.
The Budget Meeting of Parliament will run up to April 11 2025.
