The date of the 2027 National Budget has been set. In her business statement to the National Assembly on Friday 23 October, Vice-President Mutale Nalumango announced that the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane, will present the budget on Friday 30 October, News Diggers reported on Saturday 24 October.
The same report set out the timetable that follows. Within seven days of the presentation, Speaker Nelly Mutti will suspend the business of the House for ten working days so that MPs can analyse the sector budgets, and the House is due to resume on 24 November alongside the work of the Expanded Budget Committee. To clear the way, Nalumango said she would move a motion on Thursday 29 October to suspend certain Standing Orders, among them Standing Order 25, so that the House can sit from 14:15 on Friday 30 October until the day's business is concluded.
The exchange over the Cabinet
That the budget was coming within the week had already surfaced in the chamber. The Zambian Observer reported that on Friday 23 October Shiwang'andu MP Stephen Kampyongo asked how a budget due for presentation the following week could be defended if a complete Cabinet was not yet in place. Nalumango rejected the premise, saying the executive was intact, structurally sound and ready to steer the State's financial plan through the House, and that the Cabinet was fully functional and not a product of opposition dreams.
What the budget follows
The 2027 estimates arrive on top of a second supplementary budget for 2026. Last week Musokotwane asked the House for K19.9 billion, the Zambia Daily Mail reported on Friday 23 October, with K14.7 billion of it to pay farmers who supplied maize to the Food Reserve Agency, which bought 2.7 million tonnes against a target of 500,000 tonnes. The Ministry of Agriculture takes K15.8 billion, or 79 per cent, including K1.1 billion for the 2026/27 Farmer Input Support Programme e-voucher. The rest covers K1.3 billion for the Ministry of Finance, K540 million for student loans and scholarships through HELSB, K422.5 million for the Ministry of Defence and a K300 million contingency. The supplementary is to be financed mainly by K18 billion of domestic borrowing, with K1.3 billion in extra revenue, K510.8 million in additional donor funding and smaller savings. The Speaker referred the estimates to the expanded Planning and Budgeting Committee.
External backing was signalled the same week. News Diggers reported on Friday 23 October that the World Bank, in a statement from the Office of the Secretary to the Treasury, had committed to supporting Zambia's 2027 fiscal programme through a Development Policy Operation, and that its vice-president for Eastern and Southern Africa, Ndiame Diop, had indicated willingness to support the rehabilitation of the northern railway circuit, the Agri-Connect project and a proposed skills enhancement project.
Budget week, as reported by News Diggers
- Thursday 29 October — motion to suspend Standing Orders, including Standing Order 25
- Friday 30 October — 2027 National Budget presented; House sits from 14:15 until business concludes
- Within seven days — business of the House suspended for ten working days for sector budget analysis
- 24 November — House resumes, with the Expanded Budget Committee at work
Sources: News Diggers, “Musokotwane to unveil 2027 budget on Oct 30” (24 Oct 2026); Zambian Observer, “STOP DREAMING!…Veep Nalumango fires back at Kampyongo over Cabinet and Budget defence” (23 Oct 2026); Zambia Daily Mail, “Govt seeks K19.9bn supplementary budget” (23 Oct 2026); News Diggers, “World Bank pledges fiscal support for 2027” (23 Oct 2026).