There are conflicting statements regarding austerity measures President Lazarus Chakwera directed Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Simplex Chithyola Banda to include in his Mid-Year Budget Review Statement delivered in Parliament 20 days ago.
But cometh the day, cometh the man. A week after deferring presentation of the mid-year review, the minister indicated that the measures would be presented through a government circular and only unveiled a waiver on value-added tax exemptions enjoyed by the President, Vice-President, members of Parliament and other senior public officers when importing motor vehicles duty-free.
of the limited resources | Nation
Two weeks ago, the President, in his national address delivered from Mzuzu, created an impression that the austerity measures meant to help save public resources and boost the economy were in full swing.
But in an interview yesterday, Treasury spokesperson Williams Banda said the ministry was still working on the austerity measures. However, he did not indicate when they would be announced.
He said: “Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs is finalising preparing the austerity measures in line with the [presidential] directive. We are currently at an advanced stage.”
Reacting to the status of the austerity measures in a written response yesterday, Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency executive director Willy Kambwandira said the delay to announce the measures demonstrated a lack of seriousness and commitment to control public expenditure.
He said: “This is a clear demonstration of lack of seriousness and we are not surprised though as government has never been serious about implementing these austerity measures. The talk about austerity measures has been mere rhetoric. We have all seen how even the President has broken rules set by himself. This does not give confidence.”
During his televised address to the nation, Chakwera said he had instructed Minister of Finance to announce austerity measures during the presentation of the Mid-Year Budget Budget Statement initially scheduled for November 29 2024.
And in the opening statement of the mid-year budget, the minister created an impression that he would present an “austerity budget” only to highlight one or two measures, saying a circular would follow to announce more measures.
Despite the fact that the minister’s statement in Parliament was without the touted measures, in his address on December 11 2024, the President suggested that the Mid-Year Budget Statement had “a number of austerity measures for cutting non-essential expenditure and generating revenue”.
Ironically, the President could only mention one measure which is the removal of VAT exemption for importing vehicles accorded to some senior public officers, including the presidency.
Speaking during a media briefing after presenting the Mid-Year Budget Review Statement, Secretary to the Treasury Betchani Tchereni stressed that one of the things that attract people to work in the public sector were such privileges, as such, removal of this benefit was a sacrifice worth noting.
Both Chithyola and Tchereni, during the briefing, said part of the sacrifice was the minimal increase in the budget as government wanted to live within its means.
Tchereni said if government was careless, the revised budget would jump up to K10 trillion, but took an effort to keep it within manageable levels.
Previously, government has implemented austerity measures such as travel ban for public officials locally and internationally.
President Chakwera has faced criticism over his regular local travel which commentators say drains public resources.
With elections next year, it remains to be seen if the measures will include a ban or reduction in presidential travel.
