Minister pledgesto stick to budget

Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Simplex Chithyola Banda has pledged to strictly adhere to doctrines of implementing the revised K4.3 trillion 2023/2024 National Budget.

He said one of the key areas is expenditure controls which will ensure that the expenditures are only on budget lines “that are very important”.

Chithyola Banda said this in Parliament yesterday after the House approved his Mid-Year Budget Review.

Said the minister: “I would also like to ensure that the country does not slide back on the prior actions agreed on with the International Monetary Fund [IMF] which led Malawi to qualify for the Extended Credit Facility.”

Chithyola Banda further said the country will be focusing on diversifying economic activities to generate its own resources that move the country forward economically.

Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson on finance Ralph Jooma agreed that the fruits of the IMF deal can be expected at the end of this financial year.

“This is a budget that will just take us to the end of the year, and we expect that after this financial year is when we can begin to see the fruits from the IMF programme which will invite a number of donors to support the next budget,” he said.