By Priscilla Phiri

Lilongwe, February 23, Mana:  Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Simplex Chithyola Banda, says government has committed itself to recover the country’s economy through Agriculture, Tourism and Mining (ATM) strategy.

He said this in Parliament on Friday during presentation of 2024/2025 budget under the theme “From economic recovery to resilience through accelerating production and enhancing the legal and regulatory environment to protect the economy.”

In his presentation Banda highlighted that the 2024/2025 budget has been framed to recover the economy from forex challenges that negatively affected the progress of development as well as domestic revenue of the country through the ATM strategy.

“Government has identified Agriculture, Tourism and Mining as a strategy that will further help to boost domestic revenue in this budget.

“This strategy will have significant allocations and government will focus on developing national legal and institutional frameworks for protecting natural resources,” he said.

According to Chithyola Banda government will continue to invest in various agricultural projects such as mega farms for increased production in the agricultural sector.

He also mentioned various developments in the tourism sector such as visa waivers to 79 countries to facilitate and ease the inflow of tourists in the country, among others.

“In mining sector, government registered the Malawi Mining Company under the Malawi Development Corporations Holdings Limited that will catalyse development of the mining sector,” he explained.

In an interview, Leader of Opposition, Mary Navicha, commended government for removing visa requirements for 79 countries in an effort to boost tourism in the country.

She, therefore, advised government to rehabilitate airports and roads that lead to tourism areas in the country for meaningful development.

In a separate interview, Head of Delegation of the European Union to Malawi, Rune Skinnebach, commended government for allocating 30 percent of the budget to production for the first time saying it is a move in the right direction as the country needs more production and exports.

“I hope government puts in measures that render the lives of the producers much easier by making business and investment climate more conducive,” said Skinnebach.

The 2024/2025 budget has allocated a total of K497.75 billion to agriculture and irrigation development and a total of K4.8 billion to tourism.