Goodall defends Mid-Year Budget reviews
Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe has defended Mid-Year Budget Review sessions, saying the country cannot do without them as they provide a forum to review budget performance.
The minister made the statement in reaction to a statement by the Malawi Confederation Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) chief executive officer Chancellor Kaferapanjira during the first in a series of Pre-budget Consultation Meetings in Blantyre on Monday that the exercise was unnecessary.
Gondwe maintained the exercise is important to assess developments that may have transpired along the budget lines during the first half of implementation.
He said: “We cannot do without mid-term reviews. For instance, in the previous Mid-Year Budget Review, we had a lot of money put in the Department of Human Resources Management and Development because we did not know which ministry was going to get what.
“Having decided to take some money out of the department and distributed it to other ministries and departments, it meant that the funds of those ministries increased. We cannot do this without parliamentary approval. Most Mid-Year Budget reviews are concerned with wages and salaries.”
In its assertion, MCCCI described Mid-Year Budget Review sessions as “unnecessary” unless there is an emergency.
Kaferapanjira said the chamber believes that revisions promote inconsistencies and inefficiency in the implementation of the budget.
He said the revisions provide room for diversion from the original budget objectives and create room for hiding inefficiencies.
Said Kaferapanjira: “Government is supposed to be assessed based on what it promised to do at the beginning of the year. Now, if it is always giving itself an opportunity to correct its mistakes mid-year, then it will never be assessed correctly and we will never accomplish what we intend [to].”
In the 2016/17 Mid-Year Budget Review in February this year, total revenue and grants were projected at K999.2 billion against the budgeted figure of K978 billion, representing an increase of 2.2 percent.
On the other hand, total expenditure was revised downwards from K1.14 trillion to K1.129 trillion, representing a reduction of 1.7 percent.
