This year’s national budget has gone up by K10 billion from the initial K2.84 trillion to K2.85 trillion, Finance minister Sosten Gwengwe has told Parliament.
Presenting the mid-year review budget on Friday in the 193 strong House, Gwengwe said there are several adjustments made to contain shocks that are there including local currency devaluation and rising cost of living.
He said the AIP budget has been maintained at K109 billion.
Finance and Economy Minister – Sosten Gwengwe MP
He said the budget for maize purchase has been increased from K12 billion to K12.6 billion.
Gwengwe said Malawi’s public debt now stands at K7.3 trillion as at September from K6.8 trillion.
According to Gwengwe, Malawi’s debt has risen exponentially since debt relief in 2006, partly because authorities used to borrow a lot on the foreign front, to use the money from the loans to keep the exchange rate afloat.
He said the budget deficit is projected to increase from around K800 billion proposed in February to between K900 billion and K1 trillion.
Gwengwe said government is working with Greenbelt Authority, Malawi Defence Force, Malawi Prisons and the private sector, including Press Agriculture to rollout megafarms starting this year, in order to boost production of crops for exports.
He said the government has lifted the ban on lakeshore conferences for civil servants to boost the local tourism industry.
The finance minister says government has cut GDP growth prospects for 2022 from 4.1 percent to 1.7 percent due to, among other things, outage of Kapichira power station, which hurt manufacturing.
