Planning Commission proposes aligning Malawi national budget to development goals

The National Planning Commission (NPC)  director general Thomas Chataghalala Munthali, has said  the commission’s involvement in the national budget consultations should be at planning stage for public sector long-term investment programmes  to achieve maximum impact.

The Ministry of Finance is from July 13 to 17 start soliciting fresh submissions into the 2020-2021 national budget set to be presented before end of October.

Munthali is of the view that the Commission should be closely involved at planning stage.

“We should be able to be part and parcel because even in the Act, one of the mandates that we’ve been given is to define flagship projects for the country which means that for the Ministry of Finance when they are saying we should have a road here, we should have an irrigation scheme there we should be involved.

“Because those pillars have to be operationalized and we can best advise as a think tank on what would make the most immediate and multiplier effects in terms of long term development programmmes,” he explained.

Munthali stressed on the need for Malawi to wean itself from donor dependence and rather focus on an inclusive wealth creation agenda with a priority on the youth through agricultural production, industrialization and tourism.

A comprehensive review exercise of the ambitious Vision 2020 validated in November last year by NPC showed that despite Malawi making progress in some indicators during the implementation period, the country had failed to meet most of the targets with the performance rated under par and below the world’s average in some instances.

NPC has been carrying its own much-touted consultations on the successor plan to Vision 2020.

The commission has been engaging Malawians on what should to be incorporated in the long-term development blueprint.