Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Joseph Mwanamvekha will present the the 2020/2021 national budget in Parliament this Friday, June 12.
Mwanamvekha has hinted that the main focus of the country’s financial plan is to mitigate the impact of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic while also speeding up economic recovery and building up resilience against external shocks.
Treasury has said that the country’s purse keeper will present and lay before Parliamment the budget statement at 9.30am.
“However due to Covid-19 pandemic mitigation measurers the Honourable Minster has not made any invitations to the Budget Presentation and urges all stakeholders and the general public to listen to the budget statement presentation through the radios, television and online broadcasting,” said the statement.
The budget statement will also be made available on Ministry of Finance website www.finance.gov.mw soon after presentation.
The government has since lowered its economic growth forecast for 2020 to 1.9 percent, Covid-19 which has taken its toll on growth sector.
But the projection is still 0.9 percentage points above the International Monetary Fund (IMF) real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forecast for Malawi for 2020 of one percent.
President Peter Mutharika in his pre-recorded State-of-the-Nation (Sona) address at Parliament last Friday explained that his government still managed to achieve the 2019 targeted 5 percent of economic growth, an improvement from the 3.9 percent real GDP growth registered in 2018.
However, Budget and Finance Committee of Parliament chairperson Sosten Gwengwe has painted a gloomy picture, saying with Covid-19 crisis, the country is heading into a recession come September or December.
A recession is a period of economic decline during which trade and industrial activity shrinks and is generally manifested by a fall in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in two successive quarters.
Parliament will meet up to July 24 for the Budget Meeting
