Lazarus Chakwera raises hopes on next budget

President Lazarus Chakwera Wednesday appeared in Parliament, where he raised hopes on the next budget by highlighting road projects and taxation initiatives the budget will contain Finance Minister Felix Mlusu is expected to present the 2021/22 budget statement in Parliament Friday.

In his statement Wednesday, Chakwera assured Malawians that the absence of some road projects in his recent State of the Nation Address (Sona) delivered two weeks ago did not mean they would not be worked on.

“I ask this House not to rush to the conclusion that a road not mentioned in the Sona is a road that will not be worked on,” said Chakwera in his response to one of the questions.

He disclosed that Mlusu would provide details in his budget statement on both on-budget and off-budget road projects the government would be pursuing.

“In the meantime, roads that are yet to be designed and costed will be included in upcoming budgets once the designing and costing exercise is completed,” he said.

In addition, Chakwera indicated that, in the next budget, the government would bring along taxation measures that are aimed at supporting the administration’s development pillars.

“In my interface with the Minister of Finance, we have ensured that even the taxation measures we will introduce are germane to the creation of jobs through incentives for the private sector, the creation of wealth through incentives for increasing production, and food security through incentives for income security,” he said.