By Kingsley Jassi:
Amid concerns of low funding towards Malawi 2063 projects, the National Planning Commission (NPC) has recommended introduction of tracking systems for quick and timely interventions.
The NPC, a state agency mandated for crafting and overseeing implementation of the country’s long-term development plans, proposes creation of a Multi-Agency Expenditure Monitoring Unit.
It suggests that the unit would comprise the commission, the Treasury and the department of Economic Planning and Development and would be required to track funding towards Malawi 2063-related initiatives.
- Advertisement -
In the recently released comprehensive assessment of the current budget framework, the NPC says development outturns consistently fall short of allocations, indicating implementation capacity constraints that require close tracking by the proposed unit.
- Advertisement -
The NPC further observes that project proliferation and resource thinning undermine completion rates.
“Complete the zero-based review of the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP), halting approval of new projects until the stock of stalled, high-impact projects is cleared. Priorities completion of projects that directly contribute to MIP- 1 2030 milestones,” the report recommends.
Treasury spokesperson Williams Banda said he needed time to respond to our questions on the proposal.
But the proposal comes as budget implementation hurdles have also been raised by donors and are said to be limiting absorption of external resources.
- Advertisement -
According to the Donor Committee on Agriculture and Food Security, Malawi is expected to lose about $70 million in support towards the agriculture sector this year due to shrinking global resources, apart from low absorption rate and project implementation challenges.
According to the Committee’s Chairperson Bernadette Mukonyola who is Country Director of International Fund for Agriculture Development, the donor community last year disbursed at least $360 million to the agriculture sector but anticipates reduced funding this year because of the prevailing challenges.
The World Bank also observes institutional weaknesses in budget planning and execution, leading to consistent overruns on some predictable expenditure items while others end up underfunded.
“This systemic problem renders annual budgets highly ineffective at guiding resource allocation,” the bank says in its public finance review report.
