The main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has said the National 2025-2026 Budget is full of fiction and drama, one that is unrealistic and put Malawi in a serious economic crisis.
Responding to the budget statement on behalf of the party, Thyolo Central Constituency legislator Ben Phiri said the budget has an economic context of Malawi Congress Party’s (MCP’s) broken promises and lies despite that it promised Malawians that the economy would improve within 2 years.
“Madam Speaker, the 2025-2026 Budget framework does not inspire hope. It is unrealistic, and hard to implement. I can only ask Malawians to be the final judge. Madam Speaker, the Honorable Minister of Finance and Economic Planning has presented a rather too exorbitant budget of K8.05 trillion. The budget is too ambitious and unrealistic because the revenue generation is too low at K5.5 trillion.
“Fellow Malawians, you can see for yourself that this Budget is a big lie. The budget has a deficit of K2.47 trillion. Where will the money to fill the deficit come from? Again, borrowing is the only answer. Malawians, you must be worried because MCP is ready to put more debt burden on your shoulders, and a yoke of debt around the necks of your children.
“Fellow Malawians, the 2025-2026 budget is unrealistic due to its continued overreliance on donor support at a time global dynamics points to heavy deductions in foreign aid. The budget is counting on K1.14 trillion of donor grants. Recently, USAID announced closure. Unfortunately we are yet to be addressed on how the government intends to manage job loses due to the cut with about 5000 Malawians affected , how they intend to fund the services that were previously funded by the USAID.
“The UK government too has announced it will reduce budget spending where international development or foreign aid will experience cuts. Malawians, you must expect more economic troubles. What kind of Government is this that has the guts to increase budget expenditures at a time when revenues are falling?
“Malawians, forget about Malawi2063. The structure of the 2025-2026 budget has little to offer in implementation of Malawi2063 vision,” he said
