Some civil society organizations have described the 2016 national budget presented to parliament yesterday as a good budget.
Civil Society for Poverty Reduction CSPR says that the budget is fair and progressive because it has focused on consolidating the fiscal policy so that the economy can recover from foreign shocks.
In his brief analysis of the 2016 national budget, Civic Participation and Advocacy Programme Officer, Maxson Nkhoma says some of the positive aspects include diversifying the economy, job creation and maintaining agriculture, tourism and mining as key in economic development for the country.
Mr. Nkhoma further explained that the budget also brought out government’s willingness to enacting the budgeting and planning policy to ensure that there is enough citizen participation in budgeting processes.
He pointed out that this is the only way that the government service delivery can become responsive to the people.
Mr. Nkhoma however, noted that the government did not respond to one of its recommendations to increase the threshold for PAYE, Pay As You Earn from 3,000 Kwacha to 4,400 Kwacha.
He stated that it is important to note that government’s projection of collecting 800 metric tonnes of copper in the mining sector this year has so far failed, as only half of the projection has been met, meaning that it has reduced government’s revenue collection.
Finance Minister, Alexander Chikwanda yesterday unveiled a 53.14 billion Kwacha national budget for 2016, which represents 25.8 percent of the country’s GDP, Gross Domestic Product.