Mutharika says Malawi budget not ready: Finance Minister to present ‘provisional budget’
President Peter Mutharika has told parliament that the national budget is not ready and that his government will present a “Provisional Budget”.
Mutharika said when he was opening Parliament on Tuesday after the May 20 elections aired live on State radio MBC, private Zodiak radio which was also streaming online.
“The 2014/2015 budget is far from being ready,” said Mutharika when de delivered State of the nation at Parliament in Lilongwe.
He said a proposed allocations are “either inadequate or in conflict with what the DPP wants to achieve.”
Normally, Minister of Finance holds pre-budget consultative meetings around the country in the run-up to the budget presentation and also makes an input to the finance ministry to ensure that as many views as possible are represented.
“We need more time to work on the budget so that we come up with a budget that is credible,” Mutharika told the House.
The President said Minister of Finance Goodall Gondwe will present a “provisional gudbet.”
“We’ll run on interim fiscal budget from July 2014 to Sept 2014 because the current budget is far from being complete,” he said.
“We expect to present the budget in September when outstanding issues would have been resolved,” said the Malawi leader.
In his address, President Mutharika said his government will design sound macroeconomic policies that will enable the country achieve economic growth.
Finance Minister Gondwe, now doubling also as the Economic Planning Minister, has already vowed to bring about the much-needed macroeconomic stability by lowering down both interest and inflation rates as well as maintain enough foreign exchange reserves during his term of office, among others.
Gondwe said he was confident to bring Malawi’s inflation rate back to single-digit lane from the current 23.9 percent.
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