Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it faces a K1 billion funding deficit for its expenditure for the 41st Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Summit held from August 9 to 18 2021.

An interim financial report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs released on Saturday shows that the ministry had an initial budget of K4 billion which was trimmed to K2.9 billion due to financial constraints.

Part of the delegates that attended the Sadc summit in Malawi

According to the report, Treasury gave the Ministry of Foreign Affairs K1.2 billion in the 2020/21 financial year and K700 million in the 2021/22 financial year meant for the summit.

Reads in part the report: “Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has so far received funding amounting to K1.9 billion against a budget of K2.9 billion. This leaves a funding gap of K1 billion from the budget.

“With the funding that the ministry has so far received, it has been able to settle some bills. However, there are other outstanding invoices which the ministry has yet to pay.”

The interim expenditure report states that the Ministry of Finance will make a comprehensive financial report available to constitutionally-mandated bodies and the public once all outstanding payments are made.

The report, therefore, assures service providers that the government will ensure that they are paid for all services provided during the summit.

On when the deficit is expected to be covered, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson John Kabaghe asked for more time before responding.

On January 23 2022, Nation on Sunday reported that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was failing to pay companies that provided the various goods and services during the summit despite the Treasury releasing part of the funds.

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