Malawi Parliament yesterday completed the committee of supply and passed the K3.7 trillion 2023/24 National Budget.
The budget went through cluster committees where it was scrutinized by Members of Parliament and after the cluster committees, Members of Parliament responded to the budget through debate.
The national budget was presented in Parliament on 17 February, 2023 by Minister of Finance Sosten Gwengwe.
Speaking after the passing of the budget, Gwengwe said it wasn’t easy to put together the budget because after planning had already been made the country was hit by Cyclone Freddy and they had to go back to the drawing table and reprioritize and recast the budget and that has not been an easier task.
“The MPs have also been discussing the budget with heavy hearts knowing that our sisters and brothers, our mothers and fathers even our grandfathers and grandmothers have gone through this tragedy especially in the Southern Region.
“I am happy that Members of Parliament have shown resilience and they have been able under the circumstances to provide the much needed wisdom that Ministry of Finance or Treasury needs, as we now look forward to the execution of the Budget,” said Gwengwe.
Gwengwe also noted that in the budget more resources have been channelled towards maintenance so that the country recovers from Cyclone Freddy.
“So Roads Authority is going to be a little bit busy because we can not just wait for the partners to mobilize resources and even as we expect the partners to partner with us in rebuilding, we wanted to start on our own in this budget that’s why there is a provision that is going towards Roads Authority.
“It should be not less than 45 Billion and this is up from the 9 billion that was allocated earlier before Freddy.
“All this is because there are some bridges that were washed way, bridges that cannot wait until all the assessment have been done and the mobilisation we needed to start from somewhere,” explained Gwengwe.
In his remarks, Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda said the budget is good for Malawians and it is aiming at reaching to the people and making sure services are provided.
Chimwendo then applauded Members of Parliament for debating and scrutinizing the budget allocations in a way that is good for the country.
“We have debated the budget for about 18 days and today we are happy that we have concluded. You can see the level of the discussion, the scrutiny itself, the amount of work which members had put in the budget I think it’s just a tough time for Malawi but honestly this is a good budget for Malawians,” said Banda.
Follow us on Twitter:
