Government says it has a target to grow the Agriculture and Mining sectors as key drivers that will help to grow the economy and improve the living standards of under the 2025 fiscal year
Ministry of Finance and National Planning Senior Economist Budget Office, Castagrand Nondo said Government is also putting in place measures to ensure fiscal discipline and debt sustainability to allow for an economic growth of at least 5 per cent next year.
Speaking during a stakeholders’ consultative meeting on the 2025 National Budget and the 2025 -2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework, in Kitwe today, Mr Nondo explained that improving and diversifying the agriculture sector as well as transforming the value chains in the mining sector will boost economic growth and help in job creation.
And Mr Nondo has disclosed that government managed to raise K32.3 billion in the first quarter of 2024 out of which K206 million was spent on social security, K8.6 million on the digitization of the National Registration process while K362 million was directed to the Ministry of Local Government towards the equalization funds for local authorities.
Other beneficiary Ministries include the Ministry of Education where K544 million was spent on grants to schools and Ministry of Local government which received K314 million for Constituency Development Funds (CDF) to address local developmental projects
“In the first quarter of this year, we managed to collect K32.34 billion against the projected K32.31 billion, so we surpassed the target and it is mainly because of strong economic policies and fiscal discipline,” he said.
And the Kitwe Chamber of Commerce has proposed that Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) with a value turnover of K20 million should be exempted from withholding Value Added Tax (VAT) by agents.
Submitting the proposal, Chamber Board Secretary, Rhoda Nyirenda said the move will inject cash flow in businesses for investment and also create potential expansions that will create jobs and also relieve government from unnecessary VAT refund liabilities.
And Kitwe District Forestry Officer, Monica Tembo appealed for increased funds towards climate change intervention activities in districts to avoid devastating effects.
Mr Tembo stated that officers in districts are failing to implement some interventions against climate change due to lack of funds.
And Kitwe District Administrative Officer Mwamba Mulenga urged the participants to freely make submissions that will enable the Ministry to come up with an effective budget that will lead to the achievement of the set economic goals.
He noted that the national budget is a critical tool towards attainment of set economic goals.
The preparation of the 2025 National budget is underway and it is expected to be presented to parliament in September.
