Thursday, March 28, 2024

Felix Mutati sheds more light on the 2017 Budget Preparation

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Mr Mutati meeting the coperating partners
Mr Mutati meeting the coperating partners
“The Ministry of Finance is focused on preparing a budget which will be anchored on economic recovery and stabilisation. We are, therefore, working very hard to develop an expenditure framework for the next three years going forward,” Finance Minister Felix Mutati has said.

“The nation will be appraised when the budget will be presented but we are determined to deliver a budget that will be drawn from a widely consultative process,” assured the Minister.

According to Part XVI, Public Finance and Budget, Article 202 clause (3) of the Constitution, “In a year where a general election is held, the Minister responsible for finance shall cause to be prepared and laid before the National Assembly, within ninety days of the swearing in of the President, estimates of revenue and expenditure for the Republic for the next financial year.”

In this regard, there is a maximum of ninety [90] days following the swearing of the President on Tuesday 13th September, 2016, in which to present the budget to the National Assembly. This is sufficient time for Cabinet to give guidance on policy and program priorities for the 2017 budget and for the medium term. The 2017 National Budget will, therefore, NOT BE PRESENTED THIS FRIDAY, but on a date to be announced after exhausting consultations with stakeholders, Ministries, Provinces, and Spending Agencies in formulating economic recovery and stabilisation policies which will be announced in the 2017 budget address.

To facilitate revenue related consultations, the Ministry, several months ago, issued an invitation for stakeholders, interest groups and ordinary members of the public to submit proposals for Tax and Non-Tax Revenue Policy review. The response has been good and the submissions are being studied in order for us to arrive at optimal measures which will be proposed to Cabinet for consideration.

“I am back from the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings where we had productive consultations,’ said Mr. Mutati.

“In our open invitation, individual stakeholders especially organisations representing interest groups were encouraged to ensure that internal consultations were conducted so that submissions which they finally presented to the Ministry had the full support and ownership of the majority of their membership. Many stakeholders have complied with this requirement. We are glad with the outcome of the initiative as it is consistent with the long-held policy of ensuring that planning and implementation of financial and economic policies and programs is widely consultative.

“In respect of the public sector, a budget call circular will soon be issued and budget hearings conducted in the process of finalising the estimates of expenditure.

71 COMMENTS

    • Honorable Mutati is just trying to play Politics. Budget presentation will not be made this Friday for a simple reason that IMF has not agreed to it and he has been sent back to work it out according to their (IMF) plan. In other words the wider consultation the honorable is talking about its not from you and/or me but IMF

    • It is a shame to go and ask the donors whether it is okay to put this and that on the budget. You are a sovereign nation for crying out loud, why cant you deal with your stuff. You are crying for leadership to an extend of rigging and stealing votes, NOW lead tione.. The budget, the budget, why are you telling us about an edited budget?

    • AS LONG AS VISIONLESS LUNGU REMAINS AT STATE HOUSE, WAIT AND WATCH MORE LOOTING AND DESTRUCTION OF OUR ECONOMY BY THIS FAILED PF GOVERNMENT.

    • You were busy Lungu aka kontolola, now you are wallowing in the shadows of IMF. Shame, bakulubonse nsoni mulibe. Come back home, let us work together and put our heads together, share ideas. Those people you are consulting do not live in Zambia. Tell us how rotten the economy is maybe we can source funds and work hard to increase GDP. The problem is you are only honest to foreigners and too much wenye to your people. bamambala aba.

    • Hon, you have been given a chance to prove your critics wrong. Do the right thing and help many live have a better future. hope you are really consulting widely.I believe ECL has so much faith in you to give you that position. Consult Magande as well, he did very well in that postion. We wish you well!

    • Hon Mutati. This is good approach. There are many evil and wicked people out there waiting for you to fail. Continue doing what is right and let them rot and continue growing wicked faces with their unfailing hatred for you as a Minister. They just wait for you to do wrong thing then continue with their wicked words and unwarranted attacks. People are wicked and the work of the wicked is wickedness. Do not get concerned with wicked people they dont mean any good for this country

    • At least Mutati is admitting something: his budget must present an “expenditure framework for the next three years”. That is exactly the period over which the IMF loan would have to be drawn down. This means that the IMF has ordered PF to show a minimum 3 year budget showing how the IMF loan would be integrated into the incomes and expenditures. IMF loans cannot be blown on expensive roads leading to PF cadres’ homes in Chawama. I urge the IMF to also ask how and when PF Police Force brutality will end and independent media unblocked, before any loans can be released.

  1. Just say IMF is still busy CHOPPING, CUTTING, SLICING, TRIMMING, SHAVING, CHISELING, SCRAPPING it so that all monies collected by ZRA goes back to them to pay for the KALOBA.

    • Our friends are busy sending satellites & making driver-less cars (SpaceX & Tesla, owned by Elon Musk born just next door in RSA), whilst our leaders are taking us backwards to HIPC, election fraud, One-party Dictatorship, tribalism, Police Brutality, muzzling of Press, intolerance to opposition, tender fraud etc.

      Mxxxm!!

    • To paraphrase a rap rhyme:

      You can have a man in space
      But in Zambia it’s just a rat race.

      Elon Musk knows fully well that the white race has to escape from an earth about to be overrun by unreasonable coloured races. The day blacks become the majority race in the world, just know that Armageddon has started right there.

  2. It is money from IMF and World Bank that will support this budget.. reality . I shudder to think about the conditions attached !

  3. It’s like watching a circus performing only this one is not even funny. They have created unnecessary ministries that will achieve nothing but eat the money.

    • @ AT WANTANSHI. VERY CORRECTLY PUT AND WE WILL HAVE TO PAY HIGHER TAXES ETC TO PAY THE MONEY A SELECT FEW HAVE SQUANDERED AND ARE STILL DOING SO. THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION SHOULD START RIGHT AT THE TOP AND MINISTRIES AND ABROAD TRAVELS CUT BY 70 PERCENT NOMORE LARGE ENTOURAGES.

    • People lets wait and see what happens. Can I ask something: If this budget works and provides the necessary support to the citizen both at work places and business, are you guys who are so negative not going to take part in the development? Diaspora is not your friend careful

  4. After Lungu and PF splashed all the money during the recent elections there wont be a budget to talk about becoz Treasury Coffers are empty. The economy is shrinking and therefore revenue is falling while total expenditures continue to increase with uncontrolled fiscal policies. Govt is likely to default on its external debt. Very soon govt will fail to pay wages for Civil Servants, students allowances etc. With this Chipante pante ways of doing things Zambia is doomed and the 2016/17 budget will clearly show this. Time will tell.

    • I totally agree with you Brown. The only items to be implemented in the budget are the President’s and Minsters’ trips abroad. The rest will just be on paper. What a country!

    • That’s what a failed state does. It’s all show and no substance. Zambia is a country in name only. The govt has zero impact on the citizens.

  5. HOw can you prepare a budget when you are broke and have nothing…really laughable…just say we are waiting for our bosses in Washington to wire us the money as we are too reckless and lazy, only interested in consuming, declaring public holidays and dancing.

    • Gentlemen let us call a spade a spade. Let us not reason like newly weds who live in dreamland. The cost of living in Zambia is becoming unbearable and when people complain you start belittling them just because some of you live on brown envelopes. I will always hold Mwanawasa in very high esteem. People insulted him, he never answered back but implemented fiscal policy which transformed the economy and his critics started clapping for him. That is what I call ingenuity.

    • Lapkenifamily: Do you know what suffered during that period? No infrastructure development was achieved. No accessibility was made to any form of new development areas. What is better, to have a lot of money in the bank or create accessibility to every part of the country so that there is an improvement in other developmental activities in those areas? You guys who are mentioning 50 Years. Do you know that there is only 69kms between Chipata and Chadiza. This road has been in gravel state since then. Is that development? Roads in Ndeke village are in gravel. Do you know the impact of the new Air Port on this area? For 50 years, you have a major road between Pemba and Mapanza still in gravel. Guys lets be honest with ourselves and give credit where it is due. An emerging economy like ours…

    • @ DODOMA. THE EXPENSE WILL FALL ON US AND JUDGING FROM YOUR WRITINGS NOT YOU TO PAY BACK THIS MONEY FROM THE IMF AND OUR CHILDREN AND THEIR CHILDREN WILL STILL BE PAYING BACK WHILST YOUR KIDS ARE ABROAD SOMEWHERE ENJOYING THE MONEY OF OUR SWEAT.

    • Kubweka: What do you want to happen in this situation? Do you want the government not to issue a budget for 2017? Then what? Imwe!!

  6. Wabona cwale, cold sweat before it gets really, really hot! Talk is cheap. What do you expect of an administration that drops a country’s ‘doing business competitiveness’ nine places in one year!

  7. We will rip what we sowed during election, do say you were not wonned. IMF here they came bress your selves for worse things to come.

    • Jameson. And if there are good? Please dont partake of them. Why are you only wishing evil upon your own country? Do you guys have families in Zambia or you are in the Diaspora? Five years is a very long time. Warn up and embrace the reality. Zambia is leaving a denial and so much dependence syndrome. In the region, Zambia is the haven. People around the region are flocking to Zambia even to buy second hand clothes. I just gave a lift to some three women who came from one neighbour (Not Zimbabwe) into Zambia to buy second hand clothes for resale in their countries. Imwe kuno busy being negative, your neighbours are praising you. Read the comments from UB40

    • It is called unintended consequences. You thought closing ZWD would stop critics from commenting? We will follow and criticise PF, even on the ToZ and ZNBC websites, if they have any, if all independent media sites are closed. You cannot run away from the hard and bitter truth that you are abject failures, you PF00Ls.

  8. This is the perfect opportunity for you to propose to the minister what that expenditure frame work 2016/2017 ought to be taking a comprehensive framework of quantifiable risk measures implied in the revenues proposals
    We need to here what the normal pace of real GDP projected in the 2017 should be from here looking at the historical norms of …… to ……. Should the minister anticipate a lower bound limit for the growth implied in the revenues or a modest relatively growth in tax revenues for 2016/2017 and what should be the equilibrium rate of interest be Should be at a lower bound or should be it neutral in his attempt to reinvigorate trade both…

    • You are back again Jonathan, your wife must be a very bored woman living with someone like you..everytime the issue of money comes up…as all you write is rubbish from the textbook.

  9. internal and external to support Growth
    Then the IMF policy is to advise members on policy issues and works to ensure promotion of economic stability and the well-being of member nations The member nations like in this case KEEPS ITS HOUSE IN ORDER and IMF simply ensures stability and well being
    This year Budget should focus some measures on SERVICES AS AN ENGINE OF TRADE GROWTH This services should include E COMMERCE There has to be some measures in the 2016/2017 budget to ensure the development and growth of services just as hard infrastructural developments in ROADS and other
    We also have too many fragmented regional trade agreements always negotiated but yet…

  10. We also have too many fragmented regional trade agreements always negotiated but yet limit the Growth in trade potential for Zambia Some of these trade agreements must be looked at carefully to ensure we coordinate and have a multilateral approach to trading systems not fragmented as seen So the 2017 Budget must align measures to ensure these agreements act as catalysts for the growth of Zambia The SADC and Comes a One stop shop is such a one There has to be some measures in the budget to ensure increased integration with trading partners beyond what is now traditional centric policies commonly pronounced in our treaties and budgets
    Ultimately the 2017 Budget…

  11. directives must also emphasise policy promotion in fiscal towards areas of regulatory cooperation, FDI, Services and Competition reform to align to bolster trade within the regions and other frontiers to ensure Zambia maintains that Modest GDP Growth

  12. WATCH THE PACE AND BEHOLD A LOT OF OUR MONEY BEING PLUNDERED BY THE PF LOOTERS. AS LONG AS THE VISIONLESS LUNGU IS OCCUPYING PRESIDENCY, THINGS WILL CONTINUE FALLING APART IN OUR COUNTRY. LUNGU KEEPS SLEEPING ON DUTY.

  13. To think that you will restructure the central bank balance sheet within the IMF period is also not only naïve but also failure to see the forecast in the last 10 year and the future in 10 years Treasuries in central banks global have been attempting to stimulate economic growth with additional mountains of bonds to manage rates, put the cost of business lower and grow to attract FDIs but this has not happened as budgeted
    So more consultative is important to ensure the budget is comprehensive The speech is Only for a day

  14. if you want to cross a river, dont go to a rabbit to do it for you because its humble and friendly, be objective, go to the crocodile or hippo because it can take you across. ECL vs HH/Nawakwi

  15. Tax Policy should also relate to Service provision. Ensure the relationship is tight and you will ee a gradual increase tax collections

    • Just look at Haiti, the blackest country in the Americas. It’s a disaster, the poorest in that region. Its slums are worse than Chawama. There’s something about blacks that attracts the worst in humanity.

  16. Am sure the IMF has told Mutati/PF to open The Post, drop charges for HH/GBM or no money. Mutati is consulting Lungu and Kambwili, not you and me.

    • The IMF should not lend money to brutal regimes. PF should shape up or go to Beijing to dance Dununa Reverse there.

  17. IMF will not provide funding to a regime that is without fiscal discipline and only knows to spend the money that they do not have! Now Changwa wants to increase government by another four ministries and split Mpika into three districts, etc, etc, Where will the money come from to sustain these ministries when he struggling to settle the current civil service bill? removal of subsidies on electricity and fuel can only translate into increase in the cost of goods and services! Mutati should just get real and tell the truth like it is and stop any sugar – coating. Other donor funding is tied up with governance and freedom of the press and speech where the country is rated badly! We are in an economic quagmire. IMF must read Mutati and his team the riot act, hence working on revising the…

  18. Mutati is saying he is back from the IMF where he had “productive consultations”. What are these prodcutive consultations he is talking about? The IMF does not impose anything on any government. What happens is that governments go there with proposals and then conditions are agreed upon for funding. If Mutati is talking about consultations, he is referring to the proposals he took to the IMF and probably the proposals were questioned and could not meet the requirements. The IMF never promotes consumption or governments spending more than what they have. I am sure the PF government was thinking the IMF can be pushed around. It never works like that. They first ask you to tell them what you want to achieve and then they arrange the support with conditions of course. This is no child’s…

  19. We are, therefore, working very hard to develop an expenditure framework for the next three years going forward,” Finance Minister Felix Mutati has said. Stop waffling and just cut the theft and wastage by Lungu and the illegal government.

  20. It is said that ‘the best things in life are free’, for example love. But it is also true that, ‘free things are dangerous’. How do the two statements which are a world apart relate?

    Take the analogy of love and hate as an example. In real sense there is no difference between the two; love can be hate and hate can be love. One would love someone so much that he hates that person to do anything wrong against him. There is also a situation where one hates someone so much that he even buys that person a car so that the car could kill the purported loved person (especially if he is privy to her poor driving skills). Someone would hate a person so much that he would give him or her free things to make the recipient handicapped. This would indirectly pin the recipient to the provider so…

  21. 90 days. 13th December(hope it’s not a FRIDAY). We wait with bated breath!

    We note some opposition dimlights here, failing to applaud the consultative process. A listening Party is PF. After the budget get ready to hear, “oh they forgot this, forgot that,,,,etc. etc”!!

    • It’s not a Friday. Let’s hope they are not aiming for Halloween!! Spooooook, ooooooh….YIKES, my fuel subsidy just did a powder on me……..!!!

  22. President Edgar Lungu should caution this Minister of Finance to stop talking to much…Let him work in silence not every day issuing hollow statements…I still maintain my stance that people who talk to much are under performers like Shi Nono and indeed the Supreme Leader HH of the UPND…

  23. The Minister without Finance and Political clout has spoken. The Treasury is broke and needs budgetary support from Donor Aid Agencies. IMF will come and craft the 2016/17 budget and the illegitimate Lungu govt will have no choice but to embrace it. The IMF austerity reforms and measures are a necessary evil and its time to pay for our sins. No more father xmas. Tough times ahead.

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