Malawi changes fiscal year to start April 1
Malawi Government has changed its fiscal year from the one that starts on July 1 and ends on June 30 to one that will start on April 1 and end on March 31.
Secretary for Economic Planning and Development and Public Sector Reforms Winford Masanjala has disclosed the change in a memo to all heads of government ministries, departments and agencies dated December 22, 2020.
According to the memo, the 2020//21 Fiscal Year will be maintained on the current July-June calendar.
The 2021/22 Fiscal Year will be shortened to nine, commencing on July 1, 2021 and ending on March 31, 2022.
The 2022/23 Fiscal Year and all subsequent fiscal years will commence on April 1 of one year and end on March 31 of the following year.
“To this end, Government will constitute a taskforce that will review all affected laws and regulations; monitor the re-configurarion of the central Government’s information management systems, and monitor the synchronisation of systems across the public sector,” reads the memo.
Government said ir has observed that budgets appropriated in June and implemented from July are late for timely provision of resources for importing agricultural inputs.
“To ensure that the country has fertilisers and other inputs by the start of the agricultural production season, the import logistics require that the process be funded and commence much earlier. In addition, an April-March fiscal year will facilitate early funding for ADMARC and the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) and capacitate these institutions to compete better in purchasing smallholder agricultural produce,” Masanjala said.