AFRICA/MALAWI - A "creative" finance act, while 640,000 people are at risk of hunger

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

Lilongwe (Agenzia Fides) - "Restoration of Fiscal Discipline as a Foundation for Poverty Reduction" is the title of the Finance Act of Malawi currently being discussed in the local parliament. "Like every year, poverty-reduction begins at home" comments ironically Fr. Piergiorgio Gamba, Monfortan missionary, in a note sent to Fides Agency. "Lawmakers have proposed a 100% increase in their salary from 714,000 Kwacha to 1.4 million Kwacha, while the same 190 MPs can now have a loan that goes from 7 to 24 million Kwacha".
The missionary explained that Malawi pays the consequences of the so-called "Cash Gate", the embezzlement of funds donated by other States and international organizations. "Money allocated in projects, funds to be spent on schools and hospitals ... has vanished into thin air", said Fr. Gamba.
Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe presented a "zero-aid budget" in Parliament, a finance bill that does without the foreign funds which in previous years accounted for 40% of the state budget. "People are asking where will the 535 billion Malawi Kwacha (€ 1 billion) needed to cover current expenses come from, without taking into consideration the 24% increase of state employees salaries", said Fr. Gamba.
The government has also promised not to raise taxes. The hope is that inflation falls to 15% and the growth rate increases to 6.1% thanks to 248 new mining licenses granted by the government, which intend to focus also on local processing of cotton in order to create new jobs.
"The realty – comments Fr. Gamba - is that 640,000 people will not have enough food due to the scarse harvest. 25% of the population lives in extreme poverty, on less than a dollar a day, and without even the possibility of having enough food. 17% of the extremely poor live in cities and 57% in rural areas", says the missionary. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 23/09/2014)


Share: