The new minister of finance Felix Mlusu has just announced his intention to undertake a fresh pre-budget consultation, which according to Spokesperson, Williams Banda will be done between Monday and Friday.

Banda says the pre-budget consultations will be done within a week because some of the contributions that were made in April this year will be factored in.

“In April this year, there was a similar exercise of soliciting views from stakeholders, and some of the contributions that were made that time will be considered. Due to COVID19 we will not have the face to face meetings with stakeholders as the case has been in the previous financial years,” said Banda.

Polytechnic economic expert, Dr. Betchani Tchereni has advised Mr. Mlusu to treat every contribution made with the seriousness it deserves.

“The new administration should know that time for politics is over. They should take the contributions seriously for the good of the country. Previous administrations have had similar activities but not used them in formulations of budgets. It is my sincere hope that this administration will be different,” said Tchereni.

Members of parliament have to meet for budget deliberations before October 31 which marks the end of the 722 billion kwacha provisional budget that was passed on June 30.