BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)— Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn) has tipped Malawi government to look for other sources of revenue in the formulation of the 2020/2021 national budget in the wake of covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking to Zodiak radio monitored by Matavi Post, Mejn southern region coordinator Mike Banda feared that the government will struggle to allocate resources for both covid-19 response and economic development in the 2020/2021 national budget.
“This (2020/2021 national budget) is coming amidst a lot more challenges that we have had already as an economy. You agree with me that the aftermath of 2019 elections, we are still struggling economically and politically. There is no political stability in the country so much so that no any investor would want to invest in such a volatile situation.
“And now in the midst of that, we have the covid-19 which is also a very serious challenge economically and it has really affected the performance of the economy because majority of the businesses have either slowed down or either others have closed completely. So we are coming from the background where when we are doing midyear budget review we are already seeing some signs of failure in terms for mobilizing resources domestically.
“Even the support that normally comes from our cooperating partners, we saw that dwindling a bit which really was not a good sign. Even some governments are prioritising their own issues now so it’s going to be a very mixed bag and I can already foresee that we might not have the much needed development happening within this period. Much of the focus will probably be on the social sector,” said Banda.
Commenting on how the government should bring a balance on the covid-19 issues and economic development in the national budget, Banda says there is an opportunity to balance the two if the government plays cards well considering that there is also international support for covid-19 response.
“The beauty about covid-19 when the state president declared it a disaster I think it opened up for a lot of support from the cooperating partners within the country, the private sector, and the international community,” he said, adding the biggest thing will be how the government manages the resources .
Banda also commended the government’s move to support some households financially in the wake of covid-19 pandemic which has negatively affected the economy of the country.
“We should admit that this is an emergence so it’s a move towards the right direction. Our biggest worry and concern is how are we going to identify these households,” said Banda.
Currently ministry of finance is soliciting views from stakeholders before framing the 2020/2021 national budget in the wake of covid-19 pandemic.
