In the 9 months between January and September this year, Treasury exceeded the expenditure budget for the whole year by $410 million. Treasury has attributed this to debt servicing and grain imports due to the drought. Minister of Finance Patrick Chinamsa said the situation was undesirable and added that:
The high recurrent expenditures inclusive of employment costs renders the country highly consumptive and hence anti-developmental.
Cumulative expenditure to September amounted to $3,48 billion against a target of $2,99 billion. Major expenditure drivers were employment costs, grain procurement and debt servicing
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