Government owes private sector K12 billion
By Patience Lunda
The government owes the private sector K12 billion in the form of tax refunds, up from K10 billion in November 2020.
This was disclosed at the 27th Public Private Dialogue forum which was held on Friday in Mzuzu.
It was also disclosed that the government owes the private sector money in form of services that the private sector has been providing to the government.
Representing the private sector, Vizenge Kumwenda, who is Nico Holdings Group Managing Director, pleaded with the government to speed up payment of the arrears as the delay was crippling operations of the private sector.
“The private sector is being affected by the failure of government to pay the arrears in time and it threatens the prosperity of organisations because we are supposed to pay workers and we need to invest in businesses.
“However, we are satisfied with the commitment being shown by the government,” Kumwenda said.
Trade Minister Sosten Gwengwe said the Ministry of Finance had started paying the arrears.
Gwengwe added that small scale businesses were being prioritised in the exercise to avoid killing their operations.
“As we are paying back arrears to the private sector, we also need to have them properly audited,” Gwengwe said.
The Public Private Dialogue forum was also graced by ministers of Labour, Industry, Energy, Lands and Agriculture, who responded to issues related to their respective ministries.
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