By Sellah Singini

Lilongwe, 16 April, Mana: Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Simplex Chithyola Banda has described the Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) as a transformational tool that will strengthen domestic resource mobilisation through smarter tax policies and anti_ corruption measures.

He made the remarks on Wednesday at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe during a joint launch of the INFF and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Investor Map.

Chithyola Banda said, the INFF identifies bankable projects in sectors like agriculture, mining, tourism, manufacturing, health care and green technology, offering risk mitigated pipelines aligned with National development plans.

"We are going through fiscal challenges, running a deficit budget, with a big proportion of our development budget funded by our development partners,

“So INFF is our answer, it is a cohesive strategy to integrate and streamline domestic public and private financing into our national priorities” he said.

Chithyola Banda also said much as Malawi has a good number of policies that are not put into use, time has come for its implementation.

He therefore called upon ministries, government departments and agencies (MDAs) to take a leading role in integrating the INFF into their planning activities.

Speaking at the same function, Minister of Trade and Industry, Vitumbiko Mumba said, the SDG investor map is designed to provide investment opportunities in all sectors like agriculture, energy, mining, tourism and infrastructure,

He said these sectors are critical to the country’s sustainable growth, and speak to the ATM strategy that the president champions.

“Each of these certified sectors is not only a factor of achieving the SDGs, but also has a potential for driving economic growth and creating jobs,” He said.

United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator, Rebecca Adda _ Dontoh said there is need to put the private sector at the center of the domestic resource mobilization.