Chakwera says government to reduce his presidential benefits
President Lazarus Chakwera says he has sanctioned the government to reduce his presidential benefits, cabinet ministers and those of top government officials as a cost cutting measure in the battered economy.
President Chakwera said this on Thursday when he presented the State of the Nation address during the opening of the 49th Session of Parliament and 2022/23 budget meeting titled “Fixing The Systems To Deliver Long Term Priorities And Diffuse Short-Term Pressures.”
Chakwera said the government will also enforce a reduction in procurement of vehicles so as reduce pressure on monetary resources in the country.
The Malawi leader said the 2022/2023 national budget is tailored to fix the shady economy and tame the rising cost of living, adding that government understands and admits the prevailing problems with the economy.
Chakwera said among other things, this is due to the depreciation of the Malawi Kwacha and an increase in landed costs of fuel.
He said his administration will through the national budget enforce measures to revamp the economy.
However, President Chakwera says Malawi’s economy has grown by three percent which he says has been propelled by the AIP program, covid-19 interventions and improved power supply.
The Malawi leader also called for an overhaul of systems he described as dysfunctional citing sectors like mining and education as examples.
He says if the country’s fiscal resources were limitless, his government would have fixed all the problems at once but the Tonse leadership will deal with the issues one by one.
President Chakwera says government has set a target of 1.5 metric tonnes of gold to be purchased in the next three years.
On job creation, Chakwera said his government has managed to create over nine hundred thousand jobs in public and private sectors.
He said although the one million jobs creation goal has not been met in the given period of time, his government is constantly putting measures in place to have more people employed.
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