Hara
Finance Minister Simplex Chithyola Banda is this Friday expected to present the mid-year budget review statement to Parliament, Speaker of Parliament Catherine Gotani Hara has said.
Gotani Hara said this in Parliament Monday at the start of the mid-year budget review meeting of the House.
The mid-year budget review comes barely a week after Malawi devalued its currency by 44 percent, a development analysts said would throw the 2023-24 financial plan off balance.
Already, businesses have raised commodity prices by around 40 percent in the aftermath of the devaluation.
Hara said the House is expected to deliberate on the mid-year budget statement in the next two weeks after presentation.
The Speaker said Chithyola Banda is expected to wind up debate on the mid-year budget review motion on December 1 before the House goes into Committee of Supply, where Parliament is expected to scrutinise revised budget votes.
The House is expected to pass the revised budget on December 6.
Of great interest will be the issue of how government will address issues such as civil servants’ salary demand and the problem of food insecurity, with the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee indicating that up to 4.4 million people are at risk of facing hunger.
Monday, Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa demanded that lawmakers discuss the issue of devaluation first before any other business.
He said such a discussion is inevitable considering that Malawians are suffering.
But Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda faulted Nankhumwa for flouting procedures in the way he brought the motion to the floor, saying Parliamentary Standing Orders needed to be followed.
Chithyola Banda has since indicated that he will present a comprehensive report on the devaluation and measures taken to cushion Malawians from it this morning.
